Enemy, friend or lover?
by Lucy Saints
Summary: 6th chapter up! The war is over!Ginny now prepares to return for her 6th year at Hogwarts, but is totally not prepared for the things that are going to turn her life upside down.My 1st HP FF so pls RR
1. House guests and visitors

_**I own nothing there for I eat beans on toast!**_

**_What has happened so far:_** In her fourth year at Hogwarts He-who-must-not-be-named had publicly returned. Ginny's family had been heavily active to fight the threat, Her Fifth year had been spent seriously training with DA and helping out in any which way she could, she had done a lot of growing up that year. A lot of people had lost family and friends a few of her class mates were on that list as well. Over the last years she had attended more funerals then a person should have to in a normal life time. At the end of the year it had come to an enormous battle in which most of her family had been involved, some of the older members of the DA and the full Order as well.

The dark lord was killed by Dumbledore, and most of the death eaters had been captured and imprisoned.

Ginny now prepares to return for her 6th year at Hogwarts, now again in a time of peace she looks forward to many things to come. But is totally not prepared for the things that are going to turn her life upside down.

Chapter one: House guests and visitors.

The Weasely family got of the muggle train in London. Packed with all the things she needed for her next school year Ginny followed her mother and father down towards the underground trains. All of them were headed towards Harry's house, which since Sirius had been cleared of all charges made against him all those years back. Was now at Grimwuald place in London. As soon as Wormtail had confessed to the courts that he had in fact been guilty of all the things Sirius had been blamed for all those years back, Harry had moved all his things out of Privet Drive and into Grimwuald Place.

Ron had told her that Harry hand never been happier in his life, now living in a wizarding household and being able to do things he had never done before.

Earlier this summer the Weasely family had got postcards from all over the country, of places Harry and Sirius had visited together.

They had been invited by Sirius to spend the last weekend before going back to school at the house.

As the train drove off again her father was happily playing with the muggle money he still had left in his hands. Mumbling things like; "Fascinating!" and "So funny!" Along the way.

A short walk from the underground they arrived at the front door of Grimwauld Place, outside stood the car of Hermione's parents and her friend stood looking at her father unloading her trunk.

Ginny ran towards her and hugged her.

"It's so good to see you? Did you have fun in Romania?" Hermione had gone to Romania on her holidays to visit Viktor.

"Yes it was a very interesting place." Hermione said with a bit of a flush on her face. Ginny made a mental note to herself that she had to ask her friend about _what_ exactly had been so interesting.

The door to the house opened and Sirius welcomed them with a big smile. "Welcome come on in." He helped them with the luggage and took them inside.

"Hello Sirius." Ginny said not seeing him putting his finger over his mouth, but it was too late.

From behind the heavy curtains in the hallway came the load thundering voice of his mother.

"BLOOD TRAITORS! FILTH! Oh there he is the Family traitor! Bringing that sorry excuse of a wizard into MY house! Traitors to the bloodlines they where, that ones parents!"

"One of these days, I will figure out a way to get you off the wall. Just like the rest of them" Sirius said threw his clenched teeth as he was trying his best to close the curtains again. He eventually succeeded and softly said. "She has it in for Harry these days don't know why. I took some doing but I got the others of the wall and placed them in different rooms or just got rid of them. Lets get out of here before she starts again shall we?"

Ginny followed his lead and the rest of the group tiptoed through to the kitchen without saying anything.

After all the welcome wishes Molly looked round the kitchen. "I have to say Sirius you have done wonders to the place."

"Well I and Harry have been redecorating a lot; this place almost feels like a home instead of a headquarters." Sirius said with a smile. "Hermione, Ron and Ginny why don't you go and see Harry? He is in the upstairs parlour." He said looking at Mr. and Mrs. Weasely with a particular look.

"Yes go say hello to Harry we will join you in a bit." Her mother said steering them out of the door.

Geese, like I don't know when we are being sent away so the adults´can talk! Ginny thought to herself as she followed her brother out of the room, she hated it when people acted like that. She had been through a lot these past few years and still was treated like a child. She was 16!

The kitchen door was immediately closed after them and the three made there way up the stairs.

They found Harry sitting in a chair listening to the radio and flicking through a book.

"Harry." Ron said walking up to his friend.

Harry looked at the three of them and smiled, a few years ago Harry smiling at her would have made Ginny flush and very nervous. But she had got over her childish crush. Harry was now more like one of her brothers, like she actually needed another, and a good friend.

Pretty soon all of them were talking about the things that had happened to them over the summer.

Ginny took Hermione apart. "So, what happened with Viktor?" She asked at a low voice so the guys wouldn't overhear.

"Well we had fun and he showed me the sights." Hermione said.

"Do not hold out on me Hermione! Did anything happen between you two?" Ginny urged.

"Well......he kissed me." Hermione said timidly.

"He DID!" Ginny looked over to the guys to see if the noticed her outburst but they were discussing the Quidditch league and were not paying attention to the two girls.

"Yes he did, it was ok......but not like I always imagined it would be." Hermione said turning a bit serious.

Before Ginny could ask anything more the door to the room opened and a blond head with grey eyes peered into the room, saw all of them sitting there muttered; "Sorry." And closed the door again.

Ron's face looked like he had just seen a muggle riding a broom. "Ok, am I imagining things or did I just see..."

"Draco Malfoy." Harry finished his sentence for him. "Yes, you did see him."

"What is that git doing here!?" Ron half shouted. "You knew he was here and you didn't tell us!"

"Well I have got so used to him I forgot you did not know yet." Harry said blankly.

"What do you mean you got used to him being around?" Hermione had raised herself from the floor where she had been sitting and walked towards him.

Harry sighed and started to explain. "Well a week ago Dumbledore showed up at the door with Draco. He had a long talk with Sirius in the kitchen; I was not allowed to listen. It turns out that when Lucius was carted off to Azkaban, Narcissa decided to live her own life and she disappeared. As you know it is illegal for an underage wizard to live by themselves, else I would have been away from Privet Drive a long time ago. Draco was found by a ministry wizard who was following up on a few things for the trail. Dumbledore was informed and he took him with him, but found it better if Draco was to be with his family. As most of Lucious´s side of the family are either dead or in prison, they traced Narcissa´s side and found that Sirius was the closest living relative with the means to take him in. So he moved here."

"I can not believe that you have to share a house with Ferret boy!" Ron was still in a state of shock.

"Ron do not be crude, I think it was very nice of Sirius to take him in. It has to have been hard on him loosing his father and his mother walking out on him like that." Hermoine glanced at Ron.

"Wait are you feeling sorry for him?! He is a mean obnoxious, condescending, conniving and ferity little bast-"

"RON!" Hermoine said before he could finish his sentence.

"Well he is! I mean he has been a total Pratt to us all, or have you forgotten he calls you a Mud blood half the time?" Ron said in his own defence.

"Has he been acting ok? Because if he has not we could always pounce on him." Ron said looking at Harry with a hopeful face.

Ginny could understand her brother in one way, Draco Malfoy had been nothing but mean, bordering on hostile towards, her and her family. But on the other hand like Hermione said, loosing his parents would not have been easy.

"Well he has been here for a week now and he has not really bothered me, he just sits up in his room most of the time and when he does come down he hardly says two words." Harry said blankly. "And Sirius has told me not to provoke him." Harry ended looking at Ron.

"He's one to talk; every time he gets near Snape he has a go at him. Even after the Order was disbanded and Sirius was a free man again." Ron snorted.

As Ron and Harry discussed the matter of whether or not to beat Malfoy up Ginny turned to Hermoine.

"What do you think of this? Is it not a bit weird that Dumbledore would stick Malfoy in with his biggest enemy? And Sirius letting him, he knows all about his behaviour towards Harry."

"Well it is not up to me to say, granted Malfoy had been nasty and conniving to us all. But if Dumbledore and Sirius have agreed on it there is nothing any of us can do."

Ginny did not completely agree with her friend, Hermoine was always the straight thinker. She had a thing about not going against what where set as rules. Although over the years she had loosened her standards on rule breaking, because of the effect Ron and Harry had on her.

Not much later her mother came in the room telling them that dinner was ready, all of them followed her down to the kitchen.

When they walked into the room was filled with the smell of all kinds of foods, Ginny noted some distinct smells of her mothers cooking. Knowing her mother she would have offered to help and taken over completely. Her mother was like a cooking factory, and now that it was only Ron and herself in the house, the rest of the children had moved out. Mrs. Weasely didn't get to cook as much as she liked anymore.

Sirius walked towards the garden doors and opened them a bit. "Draco, dinner is on the table." He smiled at Ginny as he walked back and sat down.

Draco came walking into the kitchen, he saw the Weasely´s and Hermoine and pulled a bit of a face like he was about to say something.

From the corner of her eye Ginny saw that Sirius threw him a warning look, Draco straightened out his face said a mumbled hello and sat down.

All of them started putting food on their plate; Ginny threw a look across the table and could have sworn she saw a glimmer of sadness in Draco´s eyes.

Later that night Ginny was on her way to the bedroom she shared with Hermione, her diary in hand. She had doubted starting one again, after the; Tom Riddle in the diary debacle she was weary but she needed a place for her thoughts and feelings. Things she couldn't share with Hermoine or any of her other friends.

She had bought this an had her mother and Mad Eye check and double check it before she even wrote one word in it.

When she turned form the stairs onto the landing she bumped into someone and dropped her booklet.

"Watch it!" The cold harsh voice of Draco said as he bent down to pick something up. "I thought Weasels were supposed to have good eye sight."

"Yeah well I thought that Ferrets did not bounce but was proven wrong a few years ago wasn't I!" Ginny spat back at him, she had made a promise to herself that she would at least try to be nice to him. But if he was going to insult her she would not let him get away with it.

Draco felt amazement rising up in him; she had reacted fiercely to him? He was used to having her brother jumping in between but now she herself was looking at him with that same kind of glare her brother had. "Oh you're all guts and glory now are you? To what do we owe this personality change" He asked with a drawl in his voice.

"I always had personality unlike some others I know, just because you are rich and your father thought he was an important man. Doesn't mean to say you have a personality." Ginny was still fuming and actually looking for a good verbal challenge, but after she had uttered the last words Malfoy turned on his heels and walked back to his room.

Ginny stood there for a moment wondering why he had backed away, if there was anything Draco liked it was a good verbal fight. Off course he wouldn't personally get into a physical fight, he had Crabbe and Goyle for that.

She dismissed the thought and walked over to the room she was staying in, she grabbed a quill and some ink and settled herself on the bed ready to write.

She opened her diary and flicked through it to go to the empty page, after a few pages she saw that the words written in it were not in her handwriting. For a moment she panicked, just her luck! She had got hold of an enchanted diary again!

She stopped at a page and read the entry of that day.

"_This is the second day I am alone, I tried to find mum but she has put a charm on her self. I still can not think of why she left me, was it something I did? The house is empty and cold, I don't think I have ever felt this alone in my life. I don't know what to do, should I tell dad that im alone? Not that he would care, all he can think about is the dark lord being defeated and the fact that he is in prison. Most of the people I know are in prison as well, I think I will just have to wait till mum comes back."_

Ginny looked at the page, this was Draco´s diary! She should not be reading this, she wanted to close it but her curiosity got the better of her and she flipped a few more pages which brought her to a week later.

"_Mum is not coming back! I got an owl which said she was leading the life she had always missed and that she was not coming back. I don't know what to do anymore; I have no money and no place to go. For the most of the day I stay in the upstairs parlour, people keep coming by the house to stare at the used to be grand manor of Lucius Malfoy. I whish I could make this place unplotable or something!"_

Ginny stopped reading for a second as she thought she had heard a noise in the hallway. She was amazed at what she had read, the high and mighty Draco Malfoy; scared and alone. She flicked a few pages further.

"_Dumbledore was called to the house today; a ministry representative found me and alerted his superiors. Dumbledore says he will find me a place to stay, as I am not allowed to stay at the house alone._

_I am now at the house of Sirius Black! I can not believe im stuck here in this house with Potter. Granted Sirius is trying to be kind but I can tell both he and Potter would rather be rid of me. The only one who was really happy to see me was that screaming portrait in the hallway."_

Ginny turned the page to read further when she heard the door open; quickly she closed the diary and looked up to see who it was. She looked up into the Draco´s eyes, which were filled with horror and amazement. "I believe you have something of mine." He said pointing at the diary in her hand.

Ginny hoped she had closed it in time, she looked up at him. "Oh is this yours? I thought it was mine." Draco walked further into the room. "No this is yours." He said holding out the diary in his hand. "I saw it by the cover, mine is older than this." He pointed at the

Scarlet red cover of the book. "You didn't read it did you?" Ginny asked almost horrified at the thought. What if he had? He would know her deepest and most secret thoughts!

"What do you take me for? Off course I didn't!" Draco said looking at her with a shimmer in his eye. "You didn't read that did you?" He pointed at his diary. "No, I was just about to open it when you walked in." Ginny lied hoping she wouldn't turn her usual shade of red when she lied.

She held up the book and Draco took it from her, handing her back her own. "Thanks." He mumbled holding on tightly to the book as he walked out the room closing the door behind him.

Ginny rested her head on her arms for a moment; she hoped he had believed her. She now opened her own diary to write in and saw a few of the pages were ruffled in a way they were not supposed to. He HAD read it! Now her hart sank, he had read her diary! Draco Malfoy was now aware of her thoughts, the things she didn't want or could share with any other person! At least a good part of them, she was sure he did not have the time to read all of it.

She dipped her quill in the ink and started to write, she needed to get her head clear of all the thoughts now buzzing through her head like a swarm of Bee's.

A few hours later she was still lying on her bed, having replaced her diary by a book Hermione had lent her. It was a muggle book written by a William Shakespeare called Romeo and Juliet. It was quite a good read and she was stuck in the book when Hermoine entered the room. "Stop calling him that Ron." She said angrily towards the hall way. "Stop calling Vikki what?" She heard her brother's voice tauntingly. Hermione made a protesting sound and then closed the door. "Sometimes your brother can be so immature." She said looking at Ginny. "You're talking to a convinced person here, try living with about 3 of him in one house. I almost threw a party when Fred and George moved out." Ginny said with a smile.

Hermione sat down on the bed and smiled at her. "I know what you mean, how do you like the book?"

"Its great, thanks for lending it to me." Ginny said putting a slip of parchment in between the pages and closing the book.

"So what did exactly happen between you and Victor?" Ginny asked as she watched Hermione turn slightly red.

"Like I said, we kissed. It just happened all of a sudden, I knew he liked me but never expected him to do that." Hermione said looking at hr folded hands.

"Well, you said it wasn't what you had always imagined, but did you like it?" Ginny edged on.

"It was ok, but I always thought then when you kissed a boy you liked very much it would be like in the movies. You know your foot popping back and the ground shaking. Im just imagining things I think." Hermione said lying down on her bed.

"Well maybe you just don't like him as much as you thought." Ginny said, for the past years she had the thought in her head that both her brother and Hermione were not being honest to themselves. She noticed the tension that sometimes hung between the two of them. They could also sometimes bicker like a married couple, and the fact that Hermione was the only one besides her mother that called him Ronald and got away with it.

Hermione did not answer and Ginny also lay back to go to sleep.

The next day Ginny was getting dressed, they would go to Diagon Ally to get their school things. She would also be fitted for new robes as she had got a lot taller over the past year and a half.

She reached for her brush and felt something sliding over the top of her hand; she looked to see what it was and saw a huge spider on her hand. She screamed and shook her hand, the spider was flung on the floor and the door to the bedroom opened. Draco looked at her. "What are you screaming about?" Ginny pointed to the floor. "A spider." She said with a shaky voice.

Draco made no attempt to hide his smirk. "You made all that noise for a little spider?"

"It's not little! Look at it!" Ginny said backing away as the spider started to walk.

Draco smirked again as he walked into the room, he bent down and picked the spider up in his hand. He opened his fingers up and allowed it to walk over his hand.

"Do you want to say goodbye?" He asked sticking his hand towards Ginny. She backed away a bit more as he smiled, he did that on purpose! Draco smiled at her reaction and turned round to the window.

She stayed on the other side of the room until Draco had opened the window and put the spider outside.

He turned to her as if he was about to say something mean, he had a certain look on his face when he was about to do that, but before he could Ginny beat him to it. "Thank you." She said with a small smile. She could see that she had thrown him off by doing that, but after what she had read last night she was even more determined to make an effort to be nice to him. He looked at her surprised, nodded and walked out of the room without saying a word.

After an hour or so Ginny stepped out of the fire place and into the Leaky Cauldron. Her mother took the brush out of her bag and whipped the sooth off her. Draco was the last to come out of the fire place and her mother gave him the same treatment as Ginny. The look on his face was quite reluctant but he also looked like he was afraid to protest.

They were greeted by the people they knew and Ginny greeted them all back. She noticed that everybody was nice and polite to their entire group, but when they came to Draco they pulled a face like they saw something filthy and pulled up their noses not saying anything.

When they left the Leaky Cauldron they made their way to Gringotts, for helping the ministry with the battle Mr. Weasely had got a promotion and a large increase in pay. Ginny had never minded having less then others, she was loved and they always got there in the end, but belonging in the just-above-average category also had its advantages.

They stopped at the shop of Fred and George first to say hello, their group split up into a few smaller ones because everybody needed different things. Then Ginny, her mother and Draco went to the robe's shop. In her brothers shop she had noticed the same cool behaviour towards Draco as in the Leaky Cauldron.

As Draco was alone now the ministry had taken the Malfoy account under calculation making sure the money was used so he could get what ever he needed and that a monthly sum was paid to Sirius for his living expenses.

Mrs. Weasely ordered a new set of school robes for Ginny and added some dress robes to the order as well.

As Ginny stood on the plateau and the tape measure was magically doing its work she had the feeling she was being watched.

She turned her head slightly to the left and stared straight into Draco´s eyes, he diverted them immediately but there was no mistaking the fact that he had been looking at her.

Her stomach took a turn and she felt herself flush, she turned quickly and faced her mother again.

"Almost done dear." The shop assistant said when she noticed Ginny fidgeting.

Ginny smiled and tried to stay as still as possible; when she was done she got of the plateau and sat down in a chair. They would now have to wait for Draco, and again Ginny noticed the cold manor he was treated with. To her the lady had chatted away and smiled, to Draco she did not utter a word that did not involve taking the measurements for his robes.

Although he tried hard not to show it Ginny could tell by his eyes that Draco was affected by it. She felt sorry for him somehow, in one way this was his due payment for being obnoxious, condescending and mean all those years. On the other he might have just been mirroring his behaviour of his father. From what she had read in his diary, she knew there had to be another side to him.

She was lost in those thoughts for a while and when she returned to "reality" her eyes were locked with his. Quickly she turned away, what would he have thought? She must have had the most stupid expression on her face while looking at him!

Why did she care?

After waiting a while the robes were done and Ginny walked out with the bag in her hand.

After all the shopping was done the whole group had lunch in the Leaky Cauldron and then they went back to the house.

Ginny went upstairs like her mother asked to get her trunk ready for the trip to school. Tomorrow they would just spend round the house, arranging all the last things and on Monday morning they would catch the train to school and she would be in her 6th year! She couldn't wait to see al her friends again, this year was going to be totally different from last year and the year before that. Now there was no more threat, all they had to do is pass their tests and have fun!

That night Ginny fell into a peaceful sleep dreaming about school and the things that lay ahead, but somehow Draco managed to find his way into all the things she dreamt about............

**_A/N: This is my firts attempt to write a HP FF i would love to hear what you think so pls leave a review!_**


	2. Old habits die hard

_**Here is the second chapter!**_

_**Thank you Ludrucous and Simone-Sparrow-Turner for your reviews! I like getting feedback on what I do.**_

_**I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well.**_

XxX Lucy

Chapter two: Old habits die hard.

As Draco went through the barrier that led onto platform 9 ¾ he felt the looks starting already. He was so sick of this! Could they not look at anyone else then him? Yes he was the son of one of the caught death eaters but he was not the only one. Plus he was with Sirius Black, could they not ogle him? He had been enemy number one for all those years? But people only looked at what was in the news, luckily not many people knew about his mother disappearing. So the rest of the world did not know he was now living with Black and Potter.

"Come along dear." Mrs. Weasely said placing a hand on his shoulder. The woman had tried to be as nice as possible to him and frankly he didn't know what to think of it.

It was the same with Ginny, since _the diary / spider incident´_ she had been very friendly to him. Trying to start conversations and throwing him supporting smiles during dinner. He knew why; they were feeling sorry for him! Well he did not need anybody's pity!

Besides who knew she wasn't laughing at him? She had read his diary, he was sure of that!

When all of them got on the train, Sirius looked at both Harry and Draco. "Well have a good time and I will see the both of you for Christmas." Harry hugged Sirius, where as Draco just mumbled soft and short; Bye and turned away from them.

The rest of the group said their goodbye's and they went in search of an empty compartment to sit in.

Draco did not follow the rest and went in search of his own place to sit.

"Here is an empty compartment." Ginny said pointing to the side. The rest of the group followed and put their things away.

"Well Ron and I have to go to the prefect's compartment for a while; I need to instruct all the new prefects." Hermione said proudly looking at the badge on her chest again; she had been made Head Girl.

Both she and Ron left and now it was just Harry and Ginny in the compartment, they talked a bit until Neville entered. "Hi." He said plunging into a seat next to Harry and looking at Ginny with a certain kind of small smile on his face.

Ginny diverted her eyes, ever since last year he had kept looking at her like that. She knew he liked her but she did not like him back that way. He was a friend nothing more nothing less. Ok she had gone to the ball with him in her 3rd year, but that was because she had really wanted to go to the ball and there had been no other way, she had made that very clear to him.

Before anyone could speak the door to the compartment opened and Draco stood there wearing his robes, the silver prefect badge gleaming on his chest.

He looked through the compartment and when he saw Ginny his eyes lingered for a moment. Ginny said nothing but smiled a bit as he stood there; it was Harry who broke the silence.

"Yes? What is it?" He asked a bit harshly.

Ginny diverted her eyes and looked at Harry trying to reprimand him with her look for being rude.

Draco scowled at Harry; on the one hand he was glad he had said something before his staring at Ginny would have turned into something embarrassing. On the other he was sorry he had to stop.

"Listen Potter, what happened this summer, happened. But I do not think that the whole school needs to know." He had been plain enough without Longbottom being in on their little secret.

Harry looked at Neville for a second who had a surprised look in his face and then too Ginny who raised her shoulders.

"Fine, if you want it that way." Harry said plainly.

Ginny looked from Harry to Draco who still lingered at the door for a second, then he turned and walked away.

"What was that all about?" Neville looked from Ginny to Harry. Ginny shrugged not wanting to break the agreement Draco and Harry had just made.

Harry diverted from the subject by asking Neville what he had done over the summer.

For the rest of the train ride Ginny switched from listening to Neville about his summer job working in a magical Herboligy centre to staring out the window thinking of all the things to come this year.

This year would be filled with preparation for her 7th and final year, the year she would do her NEWT´s.

As they got closer to school the clouds started to turn darker and packed closer together, by the time they got to the station and the train stopped rain was pouring down.

Ginny, now dressed in her robes, ran towards the carriages to avoid getting soaked and quickly sat in the closets one which appeared free.

As soon as the door closed it started to move, she looked out the open window to the back where she could see Harry and Neville getting in to the one behind her.

Why would the carriage move with only her in it? She heard someone clear their throat and turned to say hello. She looked straight into Draco´s eyes.

"Hi." Was all she said looking out the window again.

"What are you doing in here?" Draco asked scowling at her.

"Well......... sitting would be what im doing right now." Ginny said still looking straight at him.

"I mean in the carriage, off course you are sitting! Any fool could see that!" Draco crossed his arms waiting for an answer.

Ginny felt the anger rising up in her and had a good mind to snap at him, who was he to start talking to her like that? She had tried to be nice to him over the weekend, but it seemed like the closer they got to school the more he became a Pratt again.

"Well Weasel? Im waiting for an answer." Draco said with sparkles in his eyes. "Or does the ability to talk disappear at the same time as the ability to earn money in your family?"

Ginny was now fuming, how dare he! She looked at him and her eyes were shooting fire. If she had been within the gates she would have done a Bogey Bat hex on him.

"You foul evil little cockroach! How dare you say that about my family! You should talk! Your family has done nothing good in their lives! You father is a power obsessed idiot who has no regards for others and your mother loved you _SO_ much, she skipped out on you the first chance she got!"

She was breathing heavily as she still glared at him, he looked at her and for a spilt second she could have sworn she had saw pain in his eyes.

Draco swallowed the lump in his throat; she had delivered him a direct hit. But he would not let her know that! He gave her one last look and then stared straight out of the window.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence; Ginny looked out of the window on the right while Draco´s eyes were fixed on the view on the left of the carriage.

When they reached the castle Ginny jumped out of the carriage without giving Draco another look.

She rejoined with Neville and Harry and the three of them made their way to the great hall.

The sorting hat had thought of yet another song and the first years were sorted into their houses. Ginny clapped with the rest of them and faked paying attention until Hermione nudged her. "Are you ok?" Ginny woke from her thoughts and looked at Hermione; she had a semi worried face.

"Yes I am fine; I just had a little run in with Draco Malfoy." Ginny never intended for Ron to hear, but as he had just leant forward to ask Dean a question he caught her answer.

"What did he do?!" Ron demanded to know already half standing up. Hermione pulled him down by his arm. "Calm down Ron, you are not setting a good example for the first years."

Ron sat down but glared at her. "I don't care! If ferret boy did something to Ginny then they will see some bad examples!"

Ginny sighed, although she was much older now Ron still had the stupid need to play the big brother every chance he got. "It is ok Ron; he did not do anything I could not handle."

Ron looked at her to try and see if she was not lying. "If he does; tell me and I will have a talk with him.

Ginny half smiled, the way he had just said talk told her that there was not going to be a big amount of words in that talk. "Im telling you the truth Ron, I am fine."

Draco watched the Gryffindor table as he scooped some more treacle tart on his plate. Crabbe and Goyle had been asking him allsorts of questions all through dinner. Had he spoken to his father? Were there as many people round his house as theirs? What did his mother think of this all? He had diverted all of their questions, but that had not been a hard task as the both of them had very short attention spans.

Pansy Parkinson on the other hand was a different story; ever since she had laid eyes on him in the entrance hall she hand not left him alone.

"So Draco, what have you been doing all summer?" Pansy asked drawlingly.

Draco looked at her with his spoon half way up to his mouth, he was about to answer her when he caught a glimpse of Ginny who was giving him a dirty look.

"Uhm sorry what did you say?" He asked Pansy who was still looking at him waiting for an answer.

"I asked you if you did something over the summer, or did you not get out of the house much? You know with your father being in Azkaban and all." Pansy asked again sweetly.

There had been a time where she had hung on his every word and he had enjoyed the attention. But now he just found her annoying. "The summer was ok." He snapped as he threw another look at the Gryffindor table, but his view of Ginny was now blocked by Potter. _She looked like she was very angry with me. _He thought. _What do you care? She is the Weasel girl!_ Draco shook his head and tried to concentrate on his dessert again.

At the end of the feast, Professor Dumbledore stood up at the main table and received the applause he got with a small smile. Although he had killed the dark lord he still remained very modest about it.

"Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts. I hope that in this renewed time of piece we will al enjoy ourselves and expand our minds even further then we already have over the past years." He threw a look over to Harry sitting at the table and smiled. "For those of you in your final year, you will take your NEWT´s and leave us to join the ranks of those in the working class. And believe me working is not all it is cracked up to be." He paused and chuckled at his own joke for a moment. "Now for those of you who are joining us for the first time I urge you to look at your prefects and Head Boy and Girl to guide you in the right direction."

At the Slytherin table eyes were being fixed to Draco and Ginny caught a glimpse of it.

"Fine example he will be." She mumbled as she took another drink of her pumpkin juice.

"At the request of Mr. Filch I instruct you all to look at the notice boards in your commen rooms to find that the list of forbidden articles now includes anything made by the Weasely brothers." Again Dumbledore smiled at all of them, while Mr. Filch was scowling in the back of the hall, Mrs. Norris standing at his feet, her eyes surveying the hall.

"Now that we got that out of the way, if the prefects would please lead the 1st years to their new homes for the year."

Professor Dumbledore raised his hands and the whole hall got to their feet.

Ginny stumbled up to the front of the table to get the password for the portrait; she got it of Hermione and walked out of the hall.

Just as she walked towards the stairs she heard Draco´s voice.

"That is the main staircase; it leads to the towers as well. Somewhere you don't need to be besides for your lessons, the Gryffindor common room is somewhere up there as well. Let me make this very clear! As far as the houses go there is NO I repeat NO interaction between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. Unless off course you are taunting one." He ended with a small smile.

Ginny was amazed, he had just instructed the 1st years to harass any Gryffindor! She wanted to walk further when she heard Harry's voice.

"Malfoy! We need to talk!" She whipped round and lowered herself past the banister of the stairs.

"What do you want scar head?" Malfoy said looking straight at him, some of the first years gasped at the name he had just called Harry Potter.

"Listen Malfoy, if you come near Ginny again or if you trouble her in any way you will be eating the rest of your meals through a straw the rest of the year. You got that?" Harry pointed at him with his index finger.

After his forth year Harry had gone through a physical change, he was now not only tall but more muscular as well. She could understand why girls turned their heads when he walked by these days.

She turned her look to Draco who seemed less then impressed.

"What the matter Potty? Afraid I might hurt your girlfriend? Don't worry she's not worth it, it's much more fun to mess with the Mud blood than with weasel girl." Draco smirked.

"She is not my girlfriend and I told you what would happen if you called Hermione that again!" Harry raised his hand and made to punch Draco but then a harsh voice came from the left of the hall.

"Mr. Potter I do hope you were not attempting to hit Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Snape came round the corner, his pitch black robes sweeping round his legs.

"For someone who is supposed to be the new symbol of peace you have a nasty little temper. I think a spell in detention should be able to cure you of that."

Harry bit his lip and was probably trying to swallow a remark which would get him in even more trouble, while Draco stood facing him with a smirk. Ginny was positively fuming but instead of walking down the stairs she turned and walked to the common room.

"Password?" The fat lady demanded to know, it looked like she was in a bad mood as well.

"Hinkypuff." Ginny said shortly as the portrait swing open.

"You might want to work on your manners dear." The fat lady said as Ginny clambered through the hole in the wall.

The common room was filled with people talking about their summer holidays and what they had done. She found Ron and Hermione in their favourite chairs by the fire place.

"I don not care how small the first years are compared to you, calling them midgets is not nice!" Hermione said reprimanding. "I thought we had covered that in the first year we were prefects?"

"Well I can not help the fact that they keep getting smaller which each year that goes by." Ron said looking straight at her.

Ginny smiled as she sat down. "Ever stop to think that you might be getting taller?"

Ron scowled at her and turned his attention to the flames in the fire place.

"What took you so long to get back here?" Hermione asked looking at Ginny curiously.

"Oh I ran into some people and talked to them for a while." Ginny said not sure if she should tell her about what she had seen and heard.

At that moment Harry came into the common room, after the events of last year his popularity had grown again. Ginny did not understand the thoughts of the masses. 2 years ago the most of the magical community was convinced that Harry was a head case looking for attention. Now they were once again raving over the boy with the scar who had fought he-who-must-not-be-named a number of times and lived. Harry had fought next to Dumbledore in the final battle and had actually watched him die.

Harry flopped into a chair next to Ron and looked at them all.

"What kept you? Been chatting up girls?" Ron asked with a smile and one eyebrow raised.

Harry smiled back but then turned serious again. "No I was getting a detention off Snape."

Hermione and Ron were truly surprised and Ginny faked surprise as well when Harry told them the whole story.

"That pratt! I will get him for that." Ron said turning slightly red with anger.

"Ron there is no point, it happened already and there is no turning back time. Just let it rest, you know Malfoy would do or say anything to get a rise out of you and Harry." Hermione said to try and calm Ron down.

"Calling you a mud blood is not just anything!" Ron protested.

"Ronald, your mother will kill you if you get into trouble this year! She might fake it well but still is not over the fact that Fred and George did not finish their final year." Hermione was now looking at him with her most stern looking face, and Ginny thought she might as well back her up.

"She is right Ron, Harry warned him so just let it rest. There is no use starting fights over name calling." Hermione gave her a smile for her support and then continued her glare at Ron.

Ron muttered a bit in protest but eventually dropped the subject. Not long after that Ginny went to bed, she was very tired and fell a sleep almost instantly not noticing the happy chatter of the girls who she shared her dormitory with.

Draco was lying in his bed, he heard the heavy breathing of the others around him but he couldn't sleep. His mind was fixed on the look Ginny had given him in the carriage and the great hall. She had been really upset with him, again he shook his head. _So what if Weasel girl is angry with you! Who cares what she thinks!_ He smiled at the face that Potter had pulled when he had insulted his friends, as far as he was concerned things between him and Potter hand not changed with him moving into Sirius´house. The hatred he felt had now only shifted, in stead of hating potter for who he was he was now filled with anger over what Potter had and he himself did not.

He sighed and rolled on his side again, he should try and get some sleep.

The next morning Ginny went down for breakfast with the others, as she walked into the great hall the first thing her eyes did was glance over to the Slytherin table.

Draco was sitting at it quietly eating his breakfast with Pansy Parkinson next to him, practically hanging over him.

She shook her head, _who cares what Pansy is doing with Draco...with Malfoy!_ She corrected her thoughts. She diverted her eyes and sat down she started to talk to Hermione about their upcoming lessons.

Draco had seen her enter the hall and for some reason his heart had jumped, it might have just been because Pansy had put her hand on his arm. Yes that had to have been it!

As much as he tried his eyes kept going towards the place where Ginny Weasely was sitting and talking to Granger. Did she not notice the guys around her acting like fools trying to get her attention? For a small part he could understand why, she was sort of pretty and she had great eyes. He shook his head furiously, he did not just admit to finding Ginny Weasely pretty!

When breakfast was almost over professor Dumbledore stood up to address them all, a murmur was heard through out the students as this was not a thing that happened often.

"I would like to make one more announcement, as of today the 7th year students will be helping out the professors with their lessons. They will be known as the TA of that class, in other words a Teachers Assistant. I hope you will treat them with the same respect as your professors. The list of assigned TA´s will be in the entrance hall."

After Dumbledore sat down again the murmur grew, everyone was trying to determine who had been assigned to what class.

The 7th years finished their breakfasts in a hurry and made their way to the entrance hall.

Ginny remained in her seat as she saw Ron, Harry, Hermione and Draco leave. Why did she also notice Draco leaving? She shook her head again; he was Malfoy the ferret boy! The only thing she should be thinking about was what he would do next to annoy or irritate her.


	3. Round the twist

**_Well here is another chapter of my story! It took me a while but I needed to get it just right._**

**_Thank you for the reviews and I hope you enjoy! :D_**

**Chapter Three: Round the twist.**

Ginny walked down the long spiralling staircase leading from the divination tower, professor Trelwany had predicted her year would become a difficult and trying time. She was thinking about what she could have meant, would this become a difficult year for her? She dismissed the thought, she had also predicted that one of her classmates would become a parent before the year would end, the woman had no idea what she was talking about. What had she been thinking taking another year of Divination?!

On her way down to the dungeons she ran into Hermione.

"Hi, where are you off to?" Ginny asked scooting her bag a bit up her shoulder.

Hermione was smiling brightly. "I am of to my first official lesson as a TA, I have been assigned to assist professor Flitwick in charms!"

"Oh that's great!" Ginny said happy that Hermione got a subject she herself was very good in. "I have to go, I have potions now and Snape is always on the look out for late comers." Ginny waved at her friend and hurried down the stairs.

Just in time she reached the classroom, a few seconds later and Snape would have been there already. The class filled the room and Ginny found a desk halfway down the room to sit at.

Phoebe Summers stood next to her. "Want to be partners?" She asked with a smile.

Ginny smiled and nodded while she unpacked her things, then they all sat down waiting for the lesson to start.

"Welcome to yet another year in my class, I am sure most of you will do even worse then you did last year." Professor Snape started.

"As most of you know there are TA´s being assigned through out the lessons in your year, these TA´s are there to assist the teachings and will be treated with the same respect as I am treated." Snape took a statuesque pose and puffed his chest a bit. "So there for I would like to take this opportunity to stress the fact that Mr. Malfoy will be treated like any other teacher."

Ginny´s hart dropped, this was all she needed! Potions was not her best subject anyway and now she would have to deal with both Snape and Ferret boy!

She watched as Draco stand up in front of the class with a very smug look on his face, when he saw her a smirk appeared on his face. She knew he was going to milk this for all that it was worth.

Snape flicked his wand and directed them to a complicated potion written out on the board they were supposed to make. Ginny got all the ingredients and worked furiously, not wanting to fail and not wanting to give Malfoy any excuse to have a go at her.

While she was trying to shred her daisy roots as well as possible Phoebe leaned in to her. "You are good friends with Harry right?"

Ginny nodded but did not say anything.

"Could you tell me if he............ If he has a girlfriend?" Phoebe asked kind of insecure.

"Why would you want to know that?" Ginny asked louder then she intended.

Phoebe flushed a bit. "Well he is very cute and.........well I like him." She whispered.

Ginny sighed. "So that's the reason you wanted to be partners?"

"No really I like you and thought it would be fun to be working together, I mean there has to be a bright side to this class right?" Phoebe motioned her hand round the dark and very quiet classroom.

Ginny smiled. "I am sorry, but I can not count the amount of girls that have wanted to be my friend because I know Harry."

As they chatted Draco had walked up to them, when he heard Potter's name being mentioned a few times he cleared his throat.

"Now, now Miss Ginevra Weasely, I thought you would have something better to do in this class then to talk about your boyfriend."

Ginny shot him a look. "Harry is not my boyfriend!"

"Well then there is totally no reason for him to be disturbing this class then is there?" Draco raised his eyebrows as he glanced at her work. "Now now Miss Weasely, those roots just wont do! We can not have sloppy work in this potion." Draco said not even trying to hide the smirk on his face. "I think you should start over."

Ginny looked at him in amazement, if she was going to have to redo the roots she wouldn't finish in time! And this she told him.

He just looked at her as if thoroughly enjoying himself. "Well then you should have made a better effort from the start."

Ginny felt herself blush. "You are really having fun with this aren't you?"

Again that same smirk appeared on his face. "I am actually."

"What is the matter over here?" The cold voice of Snape sounded from behind Ginny.

"Miss Weasely will not restart cutting her roots as I instructed." Draco said with a plain voice.

"Well Miss Weasely, I think you will restart as Mr. Malfoy suggested and for being disobedient to a TA you shall also do a detention Which Mr. Malfoy may decide on." Snape smirked at Draco before turning his attentions to the rest of the class.

Ginny furiously tried to make up for lost time, but because she had to redo her roots she didn't finish in time. At the end off the class Professor Snape had announced loudly that she had got a failing grade, the humiliation was very great and Ginny had blushed while Draco smiled widely.

Late that night Ginny was sitting in an arm chair in the common room, she had finished all her home work, including the detention Draco set her. It had been less bad then she had expected. She had to do a 3 role essay on the usages of daisy roots. She had done them with out complaint, if she would have said something he would have thought of something much worse! The only one who knew about the punishment was Phoebe, whom she had sworn to silence. If Ron or Harry would find out they would go looking for a fight and that was not a good thing.

From the bottom of her bag she dug out her diary and picked up her quill, no sooner had she written down the first word a few 3rd years came crashing down from their dormitory.

"Oh you can't sleep either? We are going to play a game of exploding snap, want to join?" The boy asked her with a smile.

Ginny sighed and shook her head, first thing tomorrow she was going to find a place where she could write in peace!

Draco sighed, the steady breathing of his roommates indicated that they had gone to sleep. He reached under his pillow and got out the little red book, as he reached for a quill and some ink a light appeared on the other side of the room. Crabbe had woke up and looked at him. "You can't sleep either?"

Draco scowled as he pushed the book back under his pillow; he lay himself down and pretended to go to sleep.

As soon as he closed his eyes the face of Ginny Weasely popped up in his head, the look she had thrown him when he mentioned Potter being her boyfriend was stuck in his mind. Why had he done that? There had been nothing wrong with the daisy roots but he had wanted to agitate her. When she got angry little sparks shot up in her eyes, something he had noticed in the carriage. He shook his head, Ginny Weasely was a Weasely and therefor he should NOT be thinking about her! He turned round once more and sighed, it bothered him that he had not been able to write in his diary. Tomorrow he would go look for a place where he could write, a place where he could put his thoughts on paper and get rid of them so they wouldn't haunt him at night.

One week later Ginny felt a lot better, She had found the perfect place to write in her diary; the room of requirement! She had thought about it during lunch one day last week, she had shot up and almost ran off, causing Ron, Hermione and Harry to look at each other with questioning looks on their faces.

She had run straight up to the door and thought hard about a place she could write in peace. Then slowly she had opened the door scared that it wouldn't give her the wish. But the room had transformed into a cosy place, with big sofa's and pillows and a fire place in the centre.

She had smiled and closed the door again, ever since then she had gone up to the room to write in her diary in peace.

Draco looked across the common room; everyone was busy so this was the best time to slip out.

He grabbed the little bag besides his chair and made for the exit, last week he had found a room where he could write in peace. He had searched all the corridors and looked into several places. He had just about given up hope and decided that he was going to have to use an empty classroom when he had opened a door and saw the room.

It was a nice room with large sofa's and a fire place, great for him to go and write in peace. For the past week he had gone to it and written there, all alone with no one to bother him. He checked the hallway again and then made his way up the stairs.

Ginny hurried down the hallway, she was running late, normally she would have been in the room of requirement by now, even have left by now. Her homework had been too much though so now she had to hurry, as not to get caught.

She slipped into the room and closed the door; she leant against it with a sigh and looked across the room. It was still the same, on the side table stood a bowl of her favourite sweets, the fire was emitting a soft glow and the blond head of hair was sticking out over the sofa.

A blond head of hair! She gasped at the figure sitting in the sofa, the head slightly bent down.

Draco looked up, it was funny but he thought he had just heard someone! He turned and saw her there. She was perched up against the door a booklet clutched in her hand. What was Ginny Weasely doing here! Quickly he closed his diary and sat up to look at her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked glaring at her, just his luck; she off all people had found the place he had wanted to keep to himself.

"I could ask you the same thing, how did you find this room?" Ginny said taking a step forward.

"I've been coming here for ages." He answered sticking his chin out a bit.

"You have known about the room of requirement for how long?" Ginny took another few steps.

"Is that was this place is called?" Before the words had left his mouth Draco wanted to hit himself in the head, _do not show ignorance towards her! She thinks you have known about this for ages_!

"So you have been coming here _forever_ but you do not know what it is called?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"No _Weasel_ _girl_ I said I had been coming here for _ages_." He smirked and looked at her.

"Well I found this place first so you should leave." Ginny put her hands in her side and stared at him.

"I should leave? Tell me Ginny who is going to make me?" Draco looked at her amused; she did not really think he was going to leave?

Ginny did not know what to think, he had never used her actual name before, she was always Weasel Girl, redhead, Weasel or any other demeaning name he could think of.

Draco was still looking at her trying to determine if he had actually called her Ginny? It must have been a slip of the tongue!

"Listen Malfoy! I have been coming here for the past week, every night it never misses. I have never seen you here so you HAVE to leave." Ginny said demanding she needed this place to herself.

"Well I have been coming here for a week as well and I have NEVER seen you here so for all I know you could be lying." Draco looked at her, it was the truth, this place was his and he was not going to give it up.

"Who do you think thought this place up? I did!" Ginny felt desperate, he needed to leave!

"Right like you could really think this place up! This was here all along, don not try to get your way by telling fairy tales, I am not a muggle and I do not believe in that sort of thing." He had said it and knew it did not make sense; he was a wizard for Merlin's sake! He lived the muggle's so called fairy tale! But he was desperate; he was not going to give this place up.

"You really are thick! That is what this room does! It becomes what the person who opens it wants and needs most, that is why it is called; the room of requirement! I wanted a place to write in peace, to be alone in, not bothered by anyone. So it became this for me, why it let you in I don not know." Ginny was now standing in front of him, she needed to convince him, she so wanted him to leave.

Draco looked at her and thought about what he was thinking when he had found the room, he had thought the exact same thing! "Because I wanted the same thing."

It was more of a whisper as he said it and he looked at her.

Ginny felt dumb struck, the room had given them both what they wanted! "Well I created this place so you have to leave." She defiantly sat down in an arm chair and looked at him.

Draco looked at her, she was probably right, but he liked this room too much to give it up. In the years to come he would still not be able to figure out what was going through his head as he looked at her and uttered the words: "We could share it......"

Ginny looked at him, as he looked back awaiting her reaction. For the life off her she could not believe it as she looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity. "What?"

"We could share the room, I like coming here and so do you. If we can figure out some sort of schedule so we don not run into each other. We could both keep coming here and we will not bother each other." Draco leant a bit forward as he talked.

Ginny hated to admit it but he actually made sense, it was a way she could keep coming here. "Lets say, purely theoretical, that I agree. What would you have in mind?"

"We agree on times, that way one of us can be here and the other will stay away. On the set time of one off us the other can not be near here. It is pretty simple, all we have to do is agree on the time's we want." Draco hoped she would agree.

"I hate to say it but you actually have a good idea there. So fine, we will agree on times we each can be here. But you have to stay away if you are not supposed to be here!" Ginny glared at him.

"Like I would intentionally be in a room with you if I do not need to be." He smirked at her as he leant back.

Strangely Ginny was happy he had said that, it was much easier dealing with this Malfoy then with the sincere one. "Well that makes two of us, lets just agree on the times already."

They agreed that on most days Ginny was getting the room at 8 o'clock and Draco would have it 9 o'clock. Except on Thursday's when Draco had Quidditch practice and Ginny astrology, then they would switch round.

That day they would also switch as Draco had been in it at 8, he stood up and looked at her, he was happy they had come to the understanding. Happy he still had a quiet place to go to, a place where he could let his guard down even if it was for only an hour.

A week later Draco looked round the great hall and the breakfast bustle, automatically his eyes went to Ginny sitting down with her friends.

For the past week their plan had worked perfectly, he entered the room as she exited. Occasionally they spoke two or three words but that was all. Some how he liked the fact that the room was their little secret.

Ginny did not look but knew he was looking at her, probably with a smirk on his face. Oddly enough for the past week things had gone great, besides the few words they spoke exchanging the room they had not spoke. But she did notice a change in his behaviour; no longer did he call her names in the hallway, well not all of the time. When he was alone he did not, surrounded by his cronies he did. She sighed as she drank her juice and looked at Hermione.

"Can you help me out with my potions essay? It is really difficult and I need a passing grade?"

Hermione looked at her with a smile. "I would love to, I have a pretty full day today, but I am free tomorrow."

"Oh that is no good, it is due tomorrow! I will just have to manage on my own." Ginny leant her head on her hands, she had been struggling with this essay for a week and still she was not getting it right! She sat back up determined not to get herself down, she would go to the library and then she would go to the peace and quiet off the room! There she would be able to do it in peace.

At 9 o'clock that evening Draco grabbed his diary and made his way up to the room, when he entered it he saw Ginny slumped over the table in the corner. Stacks of books surrounding her and parchment rolled out all over the place.

She was reading a passage in a book and absentmindedly running the feather of the quill down the side of her face.

Ginny was trying to figure out what she was reading but it all looked like Greek to her, she sighed and turned the page. She was going to fail and get yet another bad mark in potions.

"Ahum." Draco cleared his throat too attract her attention.

Ginny looked up and saw Draco standing by the door, what was he doing here?! Her eyes went to the clock and saw the time.

"Oh I am sorry, I forgot the time! This potions essay! Just give me a few moments and I will be out of here."

She quickly started to shut the books trying to clear the table.

Draco saw her pilling the books on each other, as if some one had take over his mouth he said; "You can stay if you like, just keep to your corner and be quiet."

She threw him a grateful smile. "Thank you, I promise you will not notice that I am here!"

Still confused by his own words he nodded and sat down on the sofa. He opened his diary and picked up his quill, he would just write in his diary and then leave!

After about five minutes he kept hearing her sigh as she turned page after page, it was distracting him and he looked up. "What are you doing?"

She looked up. "I am sorry; I am just not getting this stuff! And I need to hand it in to Professor Snape tomorrow."

He saw the desperation on her face but convinced himself he got up to help her so she would stop her sighs.

"It is not that hard to get, look." He flipped a few pages back in the book and pointed at a few critical ingredients.

"These are the key ingredients, when mixed correctly they will become the potion Professor Snape means. You have to switch the merlap root and the powdered bat wings in order and stir counter clock wise or else you will mess it up."

Ginny looked at him gratefully. "Is that it? I have been at this for 3 hours and it is that simple! Thank you!"

Draco looked at her; the smile on her face gave it a different style he had never seen before. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well anything to stop your sighs." He turned back round and walked to the sofa as she started to write fiercely.

After another 10 minutes she was done and she started to pack up her things.

As she walked over to the door she turned back. "Malf....Draco, thanks again, if I can help you out with anything just let me know."

Before he could answer she was gone, he shook his head and returned to his diary.

He dipped his quill in his ink and wrote for a while, every now and then throwing a look at the table in the corner. Why did he say she could stay? Wasn't the whole reason for their schedule so they would not run into each other?

The next day Ginny was heading for lunch with Phoebe, she was in the best of moods, reluctantly Professor Snape had announced that she was one of the few that had managed to correctly write the essay. She had felt so happy when she heard her grade, and she had thrown Draco a look but his face had been clear of any sort of expression.

Draco sat down at the table and pretended to listen to Pansy who was telling how much fun she had been having as a TA in Herboligy. She had given out detention to as much Gryffindor's as possible and everyone who was listening chuckled.

"What about you Draco? Have you given anyone detention yet?" She asked him with a drawl in her voice.

He had never noticed how annoying her voice was before. "No not really, Professor Snape might hate the Gryffindor house as much as we do, but he tries to hide it better then us."

His eyes went back to Ginny; he still had his mind on last night. _Malf....Draco, thanks again_ her voice kept saying in his head. She had called him Draco and had thanked him why did that matter to him?

Ginny sat at the table and smiled, nothing could ruin her day now!

"Ronald, if you do not stop handing out those skiving snack boxes I will be forced to report you. I can not look the other way any longer; I am head girl you know!" Hermione looked at Ron as he sat down.

"Com'on Hemonee!" Ron answered her with a mouth full off Shepard pie.

"No Ron! Just stop it!" Hermione gave him her most reprimanding look.

"Ok." Was all Ron said bending down to his plate again.

"Oh here he comes!" Phoebe muttered excitedly as Harry made his way to the table.

Ginny smiled and followed Phoebe's look, Harry attracted most of the attentions of the girls he passed. His hair stood on end and his smile flashed to several people, as she looked at him she wondered if she would ever look at him again as Phoebe now did.

Her crush made her smile, Harry was a very nice guy and she still liked him but not in that way. For some reason her stomach did not jolt anymore as she thought off him, her look crossed the hall and she saw Draco. Now her stomach did give a jolt, as she felt it her face turned red. What just happened?


	4. Friends or foes?

**Ok so Here is another chapter, I know it took ages but my stupid self had deleted the word program off my computer. My bestetestest friend Simone (the life saver) fixed the problem and see here chapter 4! **

**Reviews:**

**EvilDemonClownsStoleMyShoes:Thank you! I hope you like the rest off it all as well.**

**Enjoy and do not forget to review please.**

**As always Lucy**

_This chapter is dedicated to my beta writer and best friend Simone__ who's mind has inspired me to a lot off things (including writing FF) and who thought off the name for this chapter!_

_So thank you! XxX_

**Chapter 4: Friends or foes?**

It was an autumn Saturday when Ginny made her way to the room, for some reason she didn't want to be in the common room. She couldn't go outside because it was raining so she decided to go to the room and read for a while.

She loved being in there, it was so peaceful just her, a book and her thoughts.

She stopped for a second and looked round the hallway to make sure no one could see her, and then she entered the room.

Draco sighed, this essay was killing him! After the war Dumbledore had decided to make muggle studies mandatory, as to improve the understanding off muggles.

He was supposed too do a 3 foot essay on the things muggles did with out magic in their houses. What did he know about doing things in the house? For as long as he remembered in his house they had house elves that did everything needed in the house.

He sighed and put his hands on his head, he could not fail this, and he needed excellent marks in each off his classes for his future job!

Ginny walked in the room and smiled at the light fire, she loved that fire place! When she walked in further she noticed Draco sitting on the floor looking through books.

"Oh I am sorry; I thought you would not be in here." She looked at him, to her own relief her stomach did not react. That had been the weirdest thing, looking at Draco Malfoy and feeling what could only be described as; "A tingle".

Draco raised his head and looked at her. "I know I have the room for tonight but I needed a quiet place to do this essay." Draco pointed at the parchment.

"Oh well I will just leave you too it then." Ginny said turning too the door again.

"What the fuck is Elektrictitee?" He exclaimed as he looked back to the book.

Ginny stifled a smile as she turned. "You mean electricity; it is what muggles use to power things." She said smiling slightly

Draco looked at her. "You know about that stuff?"

"Yes I do, Hermione is a muggle born remember, you taunt her enough about it." Ginny said walking into the room.

"Oh right, she is." Draco said still looking at her.

"Do you need some help with that?" Ginny asked actually expecting him to say no.

"I would not want to keep you from anything." Draco said not looking up.

"You helped me with my potions essay, so I would like to return the favour." Ginny said walking over and sitting down. "What is this about?" She picked up the book and read the page.

"It is about muggles and something too do with them holding their houses." Draco looked at her.

Ginny again tried not to smile, he had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, what would he know about cleaning and stuff.

"What they mean is a household. A household, is all the things involved to keep a house running smoothly, it actually is a lot off work." Ginny said plainly.

As the afternoon went on Ginny introduced Draco into the world off housekeeping and what muggles did different from them.

"So you are telling me they do all that without magic?" Draco looked at Ginny in amazement.

"Yes muggles have to do all off that without magic, same as the muggle schools do not have anti-cheating spells and stuff." Ginny nodded as to strengthen that fact.

"Well I am transferring to one off them then!" Draco looked at her with a smile.

"Ah, but could you miss quidditch? Because they also do not have that, there you would have to play a sport like football or join a swim team." Ginny knew she had him cornered with that remark. Much like her brother and Harry, and well any other boy in the school Draco loved Quidditch.

"Oh then I think I will go for the anti-cheating spells then." Draco smiled at her.

Ginny felt a funny sensation in the room, this was the first time she had ever talked to Draco like this in....well ever! But she was enjoying herself, this whole experience had been fun, she had never imagined herself to be sitting in a room with Draco Malfoy having fun, talking and even laughing with him.

Draco looked at her sitting there on the floor in her own thoughts, who would have ever thought that he would talk to her like that. Everything he had ever thought off her had been wrong. Ok she was still a Weasely, but not as stupid or idiotic he had always kept her for. She was witty and funny. He had to say she was doing a great job helping him with his essay.

When the essay was finished Draco eventually left the room so Ginny had her time alone.

As he walked through the hallways to go back to his common room all he could see was Ginny smiling. She had actually talked to him in a normal tone off voice and he had liked it.

Ginny sank back in the sofa, her thoughts were still on the pleasant afternoon she had with Draco. She lifted her head, for a few weeks now in her head she had referred to him as Draco. No longer was he Ferret boy or Malfoy but just Draco.

She smiled as she dipped her quill in some ink and wrote the last sentence in her diary. '_I also think I have a new friend,'_ was all she wrote.

Over the weeks that followed Draco found himself going to the room earlier just so he could sit and talk to Ginny for a while.

They had made a deal, he would help her out with potions if she would him with muggle studies.

He would never have thought it, but he and Ginny Weasely were becoming friends.

Ginny sat in the room looking at the clock; she was actually hoping that Draco would be early today. She had a potion she needed to do in class tomorrow and she needed to get it right the first go. She smiled at the memory of the look on Professor Snape's face when he had returned her last test. With Draco's help her marks had become so much better; she also savoured the fact that Professor Snape, though extremely reluctant, had to give her credit for her good work.

Like on queue the door opened and Draco walked in.

"Hi, I'm a bit early." He said sitting in one off the arm chairs facing her. '_You have been early for the past weeks, you big fat liar!'_ His mind was saying to him.

"That is ok, I am glad you are here actually." Ginny said looking at him.

Draco felt his stomach clench at those words, he was happy to hear her say those words.

"Oh why is that?" He leant forward a bit and looked at her.

"Well I could use your help on this potion professor Snape is making us do." Ginny looked at him.

"Sure, which one is it this time? It seems he keeps making them harder each time." Draco looked at the book; he had been re-assigned as a TA so he no longer knew everything professor Snape set for homework.

"I think it is because Phoebe and I keep doing so well, he gets quite agitated these days when he is handing out the essays." Ginny smiled, what ever Draco taught her she shared with Phoebe. Except for where she got the information, for some reason she was not ready to share the fact that she and Draco could spend "normal" time together with the world at large.

Draco smiled, he actually missed seeing her in potions as well, and the last stretch off him being a TA there he had spent helping her out in secret. For some reason the secret off him associating with her gave him comfort. Not that he was ready to tell everyone that he would actually be nice to her, which would ruin his reputation!

After Draco had helped her with the assignment Ginny made her way back to the tower, she was smiling when she walked in.

"Where have you been?!" Ron stood in front off her with his arms in his side.

"Frankly that is none off your business." Ginny said trying to get passed him.

"Oh yes it is! I am your brother and you will tell me where you have been, it is almost curfew and you were out walking through the corridors, what if Filch or Mrs. Norris had caught you?" Ron said grabbing her arm.

Ginny looked at him wondering where this parental mood came from.

"They would not have been able to do a thing as I did not break curfew." She said shaking his hand off. "I am a big girl Ron."

"Still I want to know where you have been." Ron looked at her, she knew him well enough that he would throw a tantrum if she did not tell him. But what was she going too tell him. She could not tell him she had just spent the past hours laughing and working with his number one enemy.

"I was in the library studying." She finally said.

"Well ok, but next time you go out you are telling me where you are going." Ron said matter of factly.

"I am NOT!" Ginny was getting angry with him now.

"You will or.....or... I will tell Mum you sneak around at night!" Ron said huffing.

"Let me take this opportunity to NOT care! Do you really think that is a threat? You can not tell Mum, if you do I will be forced to tell her about all the things you have been up to over the years. Including the nightly trips under Harry's invisibility cloak." Ginny looked at him, knowing she had fully backed him in a corner with those words.

Ron threw her one last glare and walked back to his chair by the fire place, facing the entrance.

Ginny walked up to her dormitory and put her things away, when she got back downstairs Ron was still on his post, his eyes fixed at the entrance.

She sat at the table with Harry who was playing with what looked like a snitch; he let it float out off his hand before grabbing it out off mid air.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked looking at him doing the same thing several times.

"Practising, it is good for the reflexes." Harry smiled at her; she looked at his face and wondered why it did not get the same kind off shine as Draco's face did when he smiled.

She shook her head, knowing she would have a stupid expression if she thought about that too long.

"Where is Hermione?" She raised herself out off her chair and looked round the common room.

"Not here, she went out to help professor MacGonagal prepare for tomorrow's lesson together with Eric LaStrange. They are both TA in her class now." Harry said once again grabbing the snitch.

Ginny looked at her brother and smiled, so that is where that _'need too know where you were'_ mood had come from!

"Oh so that is why Ron is all......you know...." She nudged her head to the chair.

"I think so I have not been able to get a decent word out off him al night, and that is already a big problem for him ussually." Harry smiled.

When Ginny and Harry were separate from the others they discussed the possabillity off Ron and Hermione actually putting a stop their _"friendship"_ and take it to the next level. Harry's view on it was that Ron would never, ever tell Hermione the truth about how he felt and would just pine away for her. Hermione would get tired off waiting eventually and move on.

"You have to admit in some weird, only in Ron's universe existing, way it is sweet he worries." Ginny said smiling.

"I wish he would just get over it already and admit that he likes her more then just a friend. He can really drive me up the wall with that whining he does." Harry looked at Ginny and frowned.

"Well we can not all be as straight forward as you, I needed a singing gnome last time I had to admit to liking someone." Ginny grinned at the memory off Lockhart's valentine messengers.

Harry smiled widely as well. "I have to say looking back on it that was quite funny, can I ask you something?"

Ginny was startled by the sudden change off subject. "Sure, what is it?"

"That girl you hang out with a lot these days, Phoebe I think her name is. Is she.......involved with anyone?" Harry eventually asked looking at the snitch.

"Harry Potter, are you telling me that you might just like her more then as just my friend?" Ginny grinned.

"You don't have to make a big deal out off it!" Harry flushed. "She is nice and I was just wondering!"

"Well as you think she is _nice_, she will not be offended if I tell you that she is not currently involved." Ginny said making air quotes with her hands as she uttered the last word.

Before Harry could react the porait hole opened and Hermione came in, she turned one more time and waved at the hole, then calmly walked in the room.

She was just about to greet Harry and Ginny when Ron's voice came from the chair.

"Had fun on your date? I do not think Vikky will be too happy about that." Sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Ginny covered her eyes with her hand; her brother could be such an insensitive idiot!

"What does me working with Eric have to do with Viktor and stop calling him Vikky!" Hermione said flinging round to the chair.

"Oh it is Eric now? Last week he was still: That Hufflepuff what's his name...... and now we are up to Eric?" Ron got out off the chair and faced her.

Ginny looked at Harry to see if he was going to break it up but he just sat there looking from one to the other like watching a game off tennis.

"Ron, you are not being very nice! Eric is a nice person and we have to work together." Hermione glared at him.

"Sure you were working." Ron said still standing in front off her.

"Yes we were working! Some off us do take our school work seriously, all I have seen you do for the past weeks is lounge around." Hermione said looking at him.

Ron turned slightly red, Ginny knew he always managed to scrape by in his classes but he never liked to be called on it, especially not by Hermione.

"I have been a TA in Binns class for the past weeks, not much extra work' in that is there! He does not even know I exist." Ron now sank back into his chair and Hermione turned from him.

Automatically Harry got up and sat across from Ron while Hermione sat at the table with Ginny.

"Really, I do not know what your brother gets in his head sometimes! I like transfiguration and doing extra work now could really help me in the future." Hermione looked at Ginny.

For what seemed like the thousandth time all Ginny would have to do now was turn to her friend and tell her too take off the everlasting blind fold and see the truth. But she did not, in stead she shrugged and looked at her hands.

"I have not seen you around a lot, these days where have you been?" Hermione said looking at her.

"I……spend a lot off time with……Phoebe……in the library." Ginny said hesitantly.

Hermione looked at her for a few seconds. "Are you seeing someone?" She asked in a hushed voice not wanting Ron or Harry to overhear.

"NO!" Ginny exclaimed and then lowering her voice. "What makes you think that?"

"Well to be honest I do not know what it is but you have this……look sometimes." Hermione said with a small smile. "A kind off look that says you get lost in thoughts about you and someone else, the same sort off look I get when I think about……" She stopped in the middle of her sentence and looked at her book. "I should just leave you alone." She said hurried getting up from the table, but it was to late Ginny had already seen the blush on her face.

The next week Phoebe was ecstatic about what Ginny had told her about Harry.

"So you think he likes me? " She asked for the thousandth time.

"Look Phoebe all he said was that you were nice, now I really do not think that is a basis off deeper thinking on future possible non existing relationships." Ginny said trying to remain calm.

"He likes me" Phoebe said with a dreamy voice clutching her book to her chest.

Ginny smiled and shook her head.

"Oh look Draco there is the little muggle lover!"

There was no mistaking the nagging voice of Pansy in the hallway.

"Where do you think I could get myself a pair off those cheap pretending to be classy robes?" Pansy said again.

She would do anything to get into Draco's favour and he knew it, a year ago he would not have noticed the look on Ginny's face but now he did. It was a mixture off anger and embarrassment. He knew that even thought her father had got a raise her family still was not able to buy her the most expensive things. Although the robes she had now were off far better quality, they still were not off the same silky fabric that Pansy wore.

"I have no idea, maybe you should try the same shop you get your impostor perfumes." Draco said in a hushed voice, he had meant to hurt Pansy with that remark and he did. He had said it load enough for her to hear but not for the others surrounding them.

Pansy looked at him and scowled as she pulled her friend by the arm and left.

Ginny was awaiting more off Pansy's remarks, as she took a few steps she did not hear anything. Just in time she turned and saw Pansy walking away from Draco who had a definite smirk on his face as he looked at the back of Pansy, when he turned he smiled slightly before lowering his eyes again.

Ginny felt warmth spread inside her; he must have said something to make her leave. She had noticed a diminishing of his taunts towards her over the past weeks but now he had stopped another from doing it as well.

Hermione looked down the hall before closing the classroom door, to see if there were anymore students coming.

Halfway down the hall she saw two girls each clutching a book to their chests, the both of them a weird expression on their faces.

It was soon to be Christmas and everyone was talking about doing the term finals and then going home.

Draco had planned to stay at school but Sirius was making him come _"home"_ for the holidays.

He and Ginny were sitting in the room, the plan had been to study, but the room had spoiled it.

As they had walked in the room had revealed itself as usual but was now in definite festive cheer.

A thick branched Christmas tree stood in the corner filled with the glittering lights of fairies sitting on its branches, streamers hung from the walls and bowls full of candy stood in every possible place.

"I never really saw the point off Christmas, except for the presents off course." Draco said popping another chocolate in his mouth.

"What about spending the time with your family? Sitting down for breakfast on Christmas morning, unwrapping your presents at the foot of you bed and sharing them with the others?" Ginny asked picking up her mug of hot chocolate.

She loved Christmas, the smells off her mothers cooking filling the house from dawn till the afternoon. Her brothers walking round arguing over games and trying to steal bites to eat from the kitchen. Her father playing with some muggle artefact one off the boys would have found him as a gift. The Weasely jumpers her mother made……Even though they never had much her parents had always made Christmas a fun time.

"Christmas at the Malfoy house was me waking up just in time to see my parents leave for some function or other at one off their friends. They would leave, I would unpack my gifts and that would be it. The elves would do the cooking and at night my parents would invite a load of their annoying and irritating friends over for dinner. I would rather have one of those muggle dentitists pull at my teeth." Draco said looking at her; he found it weird she got so much joy from such irritating days. "Like I said; if it was not for the presents I would not bother."

"You mean to tell me that the presents are the most important thing of your Christmas?" Ginny asked amazed.

"They are, I like getting things and I always get what I want." Draco said. "You ask and you get." He leant back and looked at her.

"I asked for many things when I was younger, but somewhere along the road I learned that giving is as pleasant as getting." Ginny said looking at him again, she could not believe that anyone could dislike Christmas.

"What did you want then?" Draco asked curious.

"When I was about eight I read in one of my father's books that muggles thought that all witches had a black cat. So as I fancied myself a witch I wanted a black cat more then anything that Christmas. As you can see I never got one, sure I was sad for a while but I got over it." Ginny raised her hands as a gesture.

"Do you think I should get Sirius and Potty……Harry something?" Draco said out off the blue.

"You could, if you want too." Ginny said raising herself a bit.

"But what? I know I could give Potter a helmet for when he falls off his broom next." Draco said with a grin. If he was honest he would not know what to give either off them, he did not know them and he had asked the question in the hope that Ginny might offer to help him.

"Would you like some help with their presents?" Ginny asked. She had spent enough time with him now to recognise the face he pulled when he wanted or needed help but did not want to ask for it.

"That might be a good idea, I would not want to get them anything that might be to classy for them." Draco said trying to restrain himself from sounding relieved.

Then I will; what are friends for!" Ginny said out off the blue, the both off them pausing after her last words.


	5. It is beginning to look a lot like Chris...

**Ok so here is the next chapter, I have been working on this for donkeys years, or so it seems but I think I got it just right now.**

**I hope you enjoy reading it!**

**As for the reviews you so graciously bestowed upon me:**

**RandomReaderReadingThisStory**_DRACO is getting HARRY something? what have u been smoking? have u been going to the world where the sky is purple and little pink bunnies hop around giving out chocolate again? no no no, not good. That will not do... that's my world_ _:-D_ **Oh you have been there too? The pink bunnies don't give me chocolate! I think they favour you…….LOL No you will find out the presents in this chapter. I hope you like the outcome.**

**IlOvEdRaCo4EvErHe'SMiNe**_Really good keep on the good work. but i think their needs to be more action between Draco and Ginny LOL_ **I am honestly working on that but I don't want to rush it. I hope to fulfil your wish soon and you wont be disappointed. It all begins in this chapter……….. mysterious music plays**

**Faeriepuck : **_This Story is way awesome. You must continue. I will check for updates periodically_ **Thank you and the update as you can see has arrived.**

Little note: Please try and overlook any spelling faults in this chapter. I am sad to say I am currently without a beta for this story. (if anyone is interested to take that job up email me…lol)

**Chapter 5: It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.**

Ginny was on the Hogwarts express, she could not wait to get home for the holidays.

This would be the first time in quite some years the whole family would be together again. Even Percy had said he would come, a thing which pleased her mother immensely.

She sank back in the seat and though about school, she would not miss it one bit! Although she would miss one thing, she would miss the room of requirement. Over the past term she had got accustomed to going there every night. Doing her homework there, writing in her dairy there and talking to Draco there.

He had become a friend, although he had not said the F word in front of her she knew they were. Who would have ever thought she off all people would become friends with Draco Malfoy?

"Are you even on this planet?" She heard Ron ask her.

"What? Sure, what did you say?" Ginny said looking at him.

"While Hermione is in the prefects car I wanted to ask you this; that book you said I should buy her for Christmas. Are you sure she will like it?" Ron asked looking slightly pink and insecure.

"Ron! For the, millionth time: if I was not sure off it I would have never told you to buy it! Then again anything would be better then the Quidditch teams guide you got her last year." Ginny said trying not to smile.

"Hey! That was a good read and there where tons off good facts in there." Ron said crossing his arms, leaning back and staring out off the window.

Ginny sank back into her thoughts again, she had got all her presents, she had even got Draco one. She would send it to him by owl as soon as she got home. She hoped he would like it, they had not agreed on getting each other a gift but when she had seen this she had not been able to resist buying it.

Draco leant back with his eyes closed, he pretended to be a sleep. By doing that he hoped he could prevent everyone's questions about his holidays. He did not want to make up excuses about going home but he certainly had no intention off telling everyone where he was really going.

The thought off having to spend Christmas with Potter and Sirius made him even more surly. He now actually longed back to the days spent alone in his old house, better alone then with them.

His mind shifted to the 'presents' he had bought for Potter and Sirius, Ginny had suggested a few things he could have bought but he had thought of some others.

Just in time he managed to keep a straight face and banish the smile that played round his lips. The thought off seeing their faces as they unpacked them was enough to make him do that.

He had bought one real present, one thing he did hoped would be appreciated. He had bought it on a whim, but it was to late to turn back on it. It was bought and paid for so now he would just have to see how it played out.

When the train stopped at King's cross Draco held off getting out off the train as long as he could. Hoping to minimise the people staring at him like they had done at the start off school.

As he got off the train he could see the platform was now mostly empty, a few yards away a whole group off red haired people stood round each other chatting happily.

"Draco, over here!" Sirius shouted.

Now really glad there were not more people around Draco raised his head a bit as a sign he had heard and started walking over to Sirius and Potter waiting for him.

They stood together with the Weasely family and as Draco took his last steps he heard Mrs. Weasely end her talk.

"So it is settled then, you and Harry will spend Christmas day with us." Then she turned to Draco. "And you will be very welcome as well dear."

Again Draco saw that smile on her face again, if he had not been to deep into his own thought he would have tried to scowl for her attempt to feel sorry for him. Somehow his mind was now filled with the thought off seeing Ginny again before they would return to school.

Ginny was standing half hidden behind her father trying to look at Draco's reaction, how would he react to being invited to her house? She knew for a fact that last these years he had been mocking it without knowing what it exactly looked like. Ok to be totally honest it looked nothing like Grimwuald place, or she imagined, the mansion he used to live in. But it was her house and she loved it, strangely she was looking forward to sharing yet another part off herself, besides the room, with him.

All off them said their goodbye's they had agreed on a time to go to the burrow and Mrs. Weasely smiled brightly as she waved them off. Ginny had hugged Potter and Sirius, but Draco had taken a step back as she had advanced on him.

He had actually wanted to respond to her gesture but then, thank fully and quick enough remembered that there were others around him. Others who did not know, who should not know!

He nodded and then turned round, mentally slapping himself for even thinking what he had just almost done.

Ginny looked at the three off them walking away but then focused her attention on Hermione who was a bout to leave with her parents.

Her mother did invite the Granger family for Christmas as well and her invitation was happily accepted.

Mr. Weasely was off course overjoyed to spend some time with Mr. Granger as he off course could tell him all about the work off a muggle dentetist.

"It is Dentist dad." Ginny corrected him as she looked up at him.

"I feel sorry for Harry, being locked up with that slimy, ferrety, conniving little…" Ron started but he was cut off by his mother and Ginny at the same time.

"RON!"

He turned round to them.

"What did I say? It is true, the first Christmas Harry gets to spend without the Dursley's and he has to spend it with Malfoy!" He pulled a face as he spoke the last word.

Mrs. Weasely pulled her stern face and looked down on her son, or as much as she could these days.

"Ronald, that boy has been through quite enough! He has lost his mother and father in a shorts space off time and now had to spend Christmas without them. However unpleasant the Malfoy's might have been I suppose Christmas meant as much to them as it does to us."

"That is what you think." Ginny mumbled as she turned round towards the exit.

"What was that Ginny dear?" Her mother asked looking at her.

"Nothing mum, can we go now?" Ginny asked picking up her bag.

All together the Weasely family left Kings Cross and headed home.

That night Draco sat on _his_ bed in _his_ room, the thought off that sentence made him pull a face.

He missed school, he missed his dormitory, he missed being round people that at least pretended to like him. Even more he missed being in the room of requirement and the last thought that shot through his mind as he picked up his diary was that he missed being around Ginny.

That thought mad him lean forward a bit still holding onto the book staring at a small spot on the wall.

Ginny Weasely had over the last weeks managed to constantly occupy a space in his mind. During the dreadfully dull lessons off Professor Bins he had caught himself thinking off that girl with that red hair, those eyes and that smile.

He shook his head as he picked up his quill, he opened the ink bottle and flipped through the pages off his diary to find the page he had last written. Like radar his eyes detected the name Ginny on each page that flipped, the closer he got to this day the more her name seemed to appear.

'Get over yourself already! Get a grip Draco, there is nothing remotely special about Ginny Weasely.' He thought to himself as he put the quill down and stared at the sealing, but if there was nothing special about her why could he not stop thinking about her? Why did he see her face and wonder what she would think off everything he saw or did?

Ginny had put away the last off the plates and looked at her mother.

"Can I go now?" She asked looking at the clock.

"Yes you may dear but it is only 7 o'clock, why are you in such a hurry?" Her mother said taking her apron off and hanging it on a hook.

Ginny shot a look at the clock and then remembered where she was, she was at home, and she did not have to be sneaking out to go to the room of requirement.

"I……Uhm…… I have homework and I want to finish that so I do not have to do it right before I go back to school." Ginny finally said as an excuse.

Once she was in her room Ginny sat on the bed, it was weird begin here. At school she knew that she would go to the room and there spent some time talking to Draco. They would talk about anything, or they would do their homework in silence. She could spend time with him in complete silence and still leave the room knowing something had happened to further their friendship.

The last word shot through her head again_ "friendship"_, she had over the last weeks intended to become a friend to Draco. But she had also noticed her own thoughts diverting from that subject a bit.

Could it be possible that she might be seeing more to Draco then there was?

She stood up and walked over to her mirror and grabbed a brush. She did not see Draco Malfoy in any other way then as a friend!

Rigorously she brushed her hair as she kept repeating that thought over in her head, when she hit a knot she stopped. Why was she dwelling on this subject? Why would she not stop thinking about him smiling, laughing and looking at her?

Needless to say both Ginny and Draco now looked upon the coming days with mixed feelings.

Christmas day Draco awoke, forgetting for a moment what day it was he opened his eyes.

As soon as he did he saw the walls of his room were covered with streamers and a small Christmas tree stood at the foot of his bed. In the tree were shiny little lights which at a soft tone kept singing _"We wish you a merry Christmas."_

Groaning Draco got up as he remembered where he was and what the day was, he felt utterly depressed. It was Christmas and he was at Grimwuald place, he wanted to get up and get away from the singing tree. As he put on his socks he noticed a pile off gifts lying at the foot of his bed.

Slowly he walked over and thought he was imagining things but the closer he got the more the parcels wrapped in bright coloured paper started to get real.

He sat back down on the foot of his bed and looked at all the different parcels.

Reaching down for them he picked them up one by one reading on the cards who they were from. Mrs. Weasely had sent him three, one from Harry, two from Sirius, one from Granger and Ginny had sent him one as well!.

Looking at all of them he decided that he would start with Sirius's ones first and work his way through the others, wanting to end with Ginny's gift.

Unwrapping the two presents from Sirius he uncovered a new diary in which Sirius had written; _For things you might not want to share with anyone._ Draco raised his eyebrows as he read it, what would he mean by that, and why did he understand what Sirius might have meant? The second one came with another card. _For some fun._ It was a brown leather bound book called; _Mischievous but harmless pranks and spells to play on others._

Quickly he flicked through some off the pages, and smiled at some of the things he read, before putting the book down and picking up Grangers gift.

Underneath the paper was a rectangular box, opening it he saw a gift certificate for Flourish and Blots. He opened the card; _I didn't really know what you might like, but a book is always a good thing to get. Merry Christmas, Hermione._

Draco snuffed as he put the card down, he did not need Granger's sympathy. That was just what this was, a sympathy gift!

Harry's gift was a book called _The rules and regulations off Quidditch_. The card read; _Thought it would be useful to you, Harry_. Draco tossed the book aside and crumpled up the card.

Moving down the bed a little he opened Mrs. Weasely's first gift , it was a basket full of mince pies. The second contained a box filled with all sorts of sweets, but the third was what Draco was most shocked about. Lying in the opened paper was a bright green wool square, he picked it up by the edge and as he lifted it up it unfolded. It was a hand knitted jumper, bright green with a darker green lining the cuffs and the neck. In that same dark green colour a Dragon was the main feature off it.

He had thought Mrs. Weasely had, like Granger, intended to sympathise with him and therefor had sent him some things. But she had put work into this, he spread it out on the bed and looked at it.

There was a rapt knock at the door and Sirius came in wearing a purple jumper with a giant dog's foot print on it. "Merry Christmas! Ah I see Molly made you one as well." He said pointing at the jumper on the bed.

"She did." Was al Draco said looking at him for a split second.

"Molly is an excellent knitter, her jumpers are always as soft as can be, and surprisingly they never itch." Sirius said letting his hand glide over his arm as he looked at the sleeve. "Oh by the way, thank you for your gift, it will come in handy. We are going to have breakfast in about 10 minutes." Sirius said before he turned from the room and closed the door behind him.

Draco looked at the closed door, Sirius had thanked him for the gift? He had bought him a book entitled: _How to return from recluse, a guide for hermits returning into society_.

After he had talked to Ginny about getting Harry and Sirius a gift, she had given him a few suggestions on what to get the both of them. But he had decided to have a little fun with it, just because he might have started to think about Ginny differently, that did not mean he did about the others. For Harry he had also got a book that was called: _Famous wizards off the ages and their down falls._ The sub tittle was; _Why no one remembers them_.

Remembering he still had one more gift Draco looked at the last present on his bed, Ginny's.

I was big and heavy, slowly he started to untie the bows on it, some how his brain was not allowing him to rip the paper of. As he lowered the last side off the paper he saw it was a stack of book tied together with a leather band. Had everyone plotted together and decided to get him books! On top of the pile was a card, he took the envelope from underneath the strap and opened it. _Somehow I thought these would come in handy, Merry Christmas, Ginny_.

Draco looked at the titles of the books. _Muggles and their weird ways of living by Milly Whatsherface, Potions and Poisons by Crawly Leathalstuff, The magical world of healing by Eagon Wanting-Tobeadoctor, Medicinal plants and Herbs by Concretia Ilikegreen_ and at the bottom of the pile was a book entitled _ Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens_. Draco looked at the books and wondered how she had known he had a use for all these books? The muggle one was clear enough, he had never heard of that Dickens, but the rest of the books would really help him.

Ginny awoke to the bustle off her mother in the kitchen, her room was right above it. Wonderful smells were filling the house already and it was only morning yet.

She smiled as she looked at the foot of her bed and saw a pile of gifts, pushing her sheets to the side she went to the end of the bed and looked at all of them.

She unwrapped all off them and was glad with the thing she was given, of course she got a traditional Jumper, her own bowl of sweets and her father had given her a book on great muggle writers. Hermione had given her a book which held the collective works of Shakespeare, in it she had written_; So you do not have to keep borrowing mine_.

Ron had got her a new deck of exploding cards to play snap with, Harry had got her a box filled with chocolate frog and had written a little note that said _Freshly pickled toad_. Reading it made her laugh, thinking she had opened everything Ginny wanted to get of the bed. As she placed her feet on the floor her ankle brushed against something hard half under the bed. She leant down and took what ever was hidden from the floor, it turned out to be a wicker basket. She opened the small metal wire door in it and in a flash a pitch black cat jumped out, sat on the bed and looked at her.

It's fierce green eyes looked at her as if trying to find a feature to recognise her by, as she looked back it seemed to get an expression of remembrance and slowly walked up to her. It placed its head under her hand and purred a bit, Ginny now saw a small card attached to its collar. She took it off and opened it. _What every real witch needs._ Was all it read but she knew instantly who it was from. Apart from her parents the only one who knew about her cat wish was Draco!

She looked at the cat once more and smiled as it had curled up next to her leg, she was going to have to give him a name.

As she thought about different names she could not think of any that would suit him.

"What should I call you then?"

The cat sat up and looked at her like awaiting to be baptised, after a few seconds off her pondering it turned on it's heels and sat a few feet away from her.

"How about……Mr. Tops? After the top hatted cat in the tales?" Ginny said looking at it. The cat gave her a look with it's bright eyes. "No? Then Puff? Like the muggle Dragon song?" Ginny stated, the cat just scowled at her. "Oh well then I don't know!" Ginny said sighing as she leant back a bit.

Right then the cat sneezed and made a high pitched noise that made her laugh. "That is what I will call you then! Smaug!" Like he agreed the cat walked up to her and purred a bit while rubbing it's head on her legs. Ginny smiled as she picked it up and made her way down stairs.

There her family was waiting at the table to start breakfast.

"What is that!" Ron said as she put Smaug down.

"This Ron is a cat." Ginny said with a smile.

"I know it is where did you get it?" Ron asked agitated.

"It was a present." Ginny said smiling again, she had a cat!

"From who?" Ron asked again.

"None off your business." Ginny said sitting down.

"Well he looks lovely dear." Her mother said smiling at her. "What is it's name? We shall have to get him a bowl."

"Smaug." Ginny said smiling again.

"What kind off a name is that?" Ron said looking at her.

"What kind off a name is _Ronald_?" Ginny asked with her eyebrows raised.

Ron scowled at her and did not pursue it because his mother put the food laden trays down. Smaug made his way under the table and sat next to Ginny's feet right between her and Ron.

"He looks funny anyway. Ron said leaning down to touch Smaug. As soon as his hand was close Smaug hissed violently and swept at Ron's hand with it's claw. Ginny smiled even more widely. There was no mistaking who had got her Smaug!

The day for both Draco and Ginny progressed at different paces and styles, where Ginny's went exactly like she had predicted it would be. Draco's day was filled with things that stunned, amazed and confused him all at once.

The next day in Draco's eyes was even more confusing, from the moment he had stepped out off the fire place at the Burrow he had noticed the uncomfortable tension in the air.

Mrs. Weasely was trying her best to pretend that nothing was out off the ordinary and so were her husband, Grangers parents and Sirius. But from all the others Draco got the distinct impression the would rather not have him there. All the Weasely son's were looking at him like he was a potion gone bad. Potter acted like he wasn't there and held up with Weasel King in a corner playing chess. Draco had shown a small smile as he saw the scratch marks on Weasel King's hand, scratches that could have only been made by the claw off a cat. Granger had attempted to talk to him but as soon as she did Draco had given her a look which told her he didn't need sympathy.

Ginny sat in a chair by the fire as she petted Smaug who was on her lap, she and Hermione had just managed to once again get him away from Ron. For some reason Smaug was very unwilling to be petted by anyone that wasn't her. Looking across the room she saw Draco standing in the corner. His face looked serious as always but Ginny knew the smile that could break the coldness off that face, and the sparkles in those steel grey eyes. She tried to focus on Hermione telling her how wonderful the book was that Ron had got her for Christmas and how she never thought he would ever have given her something like that, but some how Draco kept popping up in her head.

Like Smaug had know who she was looking at, and thinking about, he suddenly got up, jumped off her legs graciously and walked over to Draco. Stopping halfway across the room and looking at Ron, like he was trying to decide what to do first. Yet again pounce on Ron or walk on to Draco. After a few seconds he walked on and looked up at Draco from his feet.

Draco smiled at the cat as he picked it up, looking into it's eyes he saw them shimmer.

Ginny got out off the chair and walked over to Draco still holding onto Smaug.

"Smaug seems to like you." She said petting Smaug over the head.

"I'm very likeable." Draco replied dryly.

"Funny how my cat seems to dislike everyone in this house, except my mother and I." Ginny stated looking straight at him.

"Cats are like humans, very particular who they like. If they like someone they show it, if they don't they will as well." Draco's eyes automatically went to Ron as he said the words.

"Or they might have been instructed on who to like?" Ginny asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Could be, although headstrong, cats can be taught a few things." Draco's smile got wider.

"So the person who gave him to me likes my mother and dislikes everyone else in this house." Ginny said trying to keep a straight face and her stomach from doing cartwheels.

Draco paused for a moment not quite sure what to say, but like his brain was controlled by someone else his mouth opened. "He doesn't only like your mother."

The look in his eyes made Ginny's heart race, was she seeing and hearing things that were not there? Was she imagining the words that had just left his mouth and the look in his eyes as he looked at her?

Draco was looking straight at her wondering what her reaction would be to his words, he might not have intended to say them, but if he thought about it they had been the truth.

Just as Ginny opened her mouth to say something Mrs. Weasely's voice could be heard. "Dinner is on the table!"

Draco closed his eyes wishing that she hadn't said that. Ginny still had her mouth half open about to answer when she was practically pushed towards the kitchen by her brothers.

There was no way off escaping a food stampede at the Weasely house…………

**A/N: Ok need to give credit where it is due! **

**The name _Ilikegreen _I borrowed from one off my members on my Boondock Saints Message board. It seemed fitting for a planty woman. (noting and noticing the fact off the total lack off "planty" being a word lol).**

**As far as Smaug goes; The readers who have read J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" might recognise him as the dragon that lived in a cavern in the Lonely Mountain where he guarded his treasure. But just saying the name makes me smile so I had to borrow it!**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that you will leave a review.**

**Lucy**


	6. Surprising new year!

**Ok so here is the 6th Chapter of this story.**

**I deeply apologise for taking so long but I was totally stuck on what to write!**

**I hope this writers block is now dissolved and I can update sooner with the next chapter then the time it took me to write this one.**

**Also I hope that I will not have tested your patience by messing this chapter up.**

**As for my reviewers:**

Like Totally Like

Wow that kinda bites. I liked that chapter. I think you should have called the cat just that, cat. I have a cat named cat, it's kinda funny cause my friends get confused when she answers to it (if she answers to it that is) lol I really liked your story PLEASE continue ASAP!

**_Lol At your cat's name! I had one called Moggy (British slang for cat) As far as the story, well it continues now! I hope you enjoy this chapter._**

**Nyahl  
**Very cute story. I'm waiting for some real G/D action grin... well done so far. Go on :)

**Very glad you liked it! And the action starts right here :D**

**kool girlmc  
**this is a brillient fanfic! yeh, i reconised da name smaug 4rm the hobbit, i'm a big lord of the rings fan! well, keep up da gud job, and hope 2 read da nxt chappie soon!

**I also love lord of the Rings, and I will keep it up and hope to fulfil your wishes of doing so.**

**faeriepuck   
**I knew I had heard the name somewhere. I thought that this chapter was really nice. I especially liked the presents that Draco and Ginny got. and I really liked the cat. I noticed a few errors in your chapter and I thought I would give you some advise. you should write your chapter, leave it alone for a day or two and then read it outloud. that way you will catch most of the mistakes. for example, a couple of times you said mad instead of made. if you had read that outloud you would have caught that instantly.   
anyway,  
enough of my blabberin, just update soon.

**Thanks for the tip and I will do so until I get a new Beta. I hope you like this next chapter as well as the last and I am also hoping to update sooner now ;)**

**Chapter 6: Surprising new year!**

After the rude interruption at the Christmas dinner Ginny and Draco hadn't spoken again.

Although Ginny had been filled with questions about what he had meant.

Draco as well could not help but think about what Ginny had been on the verge off saying. Just a few more days lasted and they would be back at school, there He would be

able to talk to her in the room, where there would be no more interruptions.

Due to an illness of an aunt Hermione's parents had asked her parents if it was alright for Hermione to stay with them till the start of term.

The Weasely's had been pleased to honour that request and so Hermione stayed behind as the others had left.

Ginny sat in the living room petting Smaug on her lap and trying not to think about Draco. For the past few days that had been an impossible task, all she could think about was him.

"Ginny dear you have a letter from school." Her mother said walking in with an envelope.

She was holding two more which were identical to hers, no doubt meant for Ron and Hermione, but why would the school send them a letter?

She took the envelope and ripped it open.

"_Miss Weasely,_

_Gladly we are announcing that the new your will be rung in festively at Hogwarts this year._

_Upon your arrival on the 2nd off January you will be expected to be in your dress robes, in light off all the events that happened over the past year the school and its board have decided to start an annual New years ball._

This will take place in the main hall, there will be a Dinner starting at 19:00 followed by the ball at 20:30.

_As seating arrangements will need to be made please inform us whom you will be escorted by._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Albus Dumbledore" _

Ginny looked up, a school ball? She had attended one once before, when she had been in her 3rd year. Back then she had gone with Neville, only because Harry had been Champion and she had really wanted to go.

Draco looked up as he finished reading the letter. "_Whom you will be escorting_!" He was going to have to ask someone to come with him…but who? The first name that sprung into his mind was Ginny's.

But then he shook his head, that was a stupid idea! She though off him as a friend, she had said so a few times already. Bedsides he was not going to a ball with her, what would everyone at school think? He was still Draco Malfoy and he did not go around with what would be called a blood traitor.

He sighed as he looked up and thought about a potential partner for the ball.

After a few more moments of thinking about it he reached for the nearest quill and a peace off parchment, there was only one other person he could think off to ask.

Ginny sat in her room when there was a knock on the door.

When she had said for the person to come in Hermoine popped her head in the door. "Have you got a moment?" She asked walking into the room.

Ginny put her book aside and looked at her. "What is it?"

Hermoine bounced on one foot from the other. "Well I wanted to ask your opinion about something."

Ginny noticed she to was holding the school letter. "You wondered about your partner for the ball?" She said leaning back and looking at Hermoine.

"Actually I did, I was wondering if……it would be……appropriate for a girl……me…to ask a boy out to the ball." Hermoine said taking a deep breath.

Ginny could not help but smile. "And which boy are we talking about?"

"Well to be totally honest……I was thinking about……" Right when Hermoine paused there was another rapt knock on the door. Ron stood in the doorway now.

"Moinee, couldIhaveaword?" Ron mumbled.

"What did you say?" She asked looking at him after his one breath sentence.

"Could you just come out here?" He asked again almost sounding desperate.

As She followed Ron out the room, Smaug jumped up on the bed. "I think he finally worked up the nerve." Ginny said petting his head, the cat gave a purr and then glanced at the door with an almost sorry expression on it's face that it seemed to have missed a change of attacking Ron.

She wrapped her arms round Smaug and got up with mixed feelings, she crept up to the door and pressed her ear against it.

"So who are you going to the ball with?" She heard Ron ask. "Is Vikky flying in?"

Ginny sighed at her brothers words, would he ever learn.

"Or is LaStrange taking you?" He continued.

Would her brother actually be that dumb to realise that Hermoine was waiting on him to ask her?

"And what about you, figured out any which girl you are going to ask to the ball at the last minute?" Hermoine shot back, reminding him of his dismal attempts to ask a girl to the Yule ball.

"NO! I was actually planning on asking you! But if you are going to act like this then forget it!" Ron said in a raised voice.

"So your asking me because you are not sure you would be accepted by anyone else?" She asked curious.

"NO! I thought we could have a good time together." Ron said sounding ashamed. Ginny could imagine his ears turning red right about now.

"Well then I would love to go with you." Hermoine said softly.

Ginny backed away from the door with a smile on her face, finally things were starting to get a move on between those two!

That night when the family sat down for dinner Ginny couldn't help but notice the smile on Hermione's face and the slight pinking of her brother's ears each time he looked across the table.

She smiled as her mother handed her a plate filled with desert and then frowned as she saw shadowy figures approach the house.

"What on earth is that?" Her father said pointing at them.

"I think it is owls dear." Her mother replied peering through the window.

She opened the window and no sooner had she done this or several owls landed on the table all sticking their leg out to Ginny.

She untied the rolls of parchment and one by one the owls departed after taking a drink from Errol's water tray.

While Ginny read all the notes she frowned, Hermoine who was looking over her shoulder smiled.

"I never knew you were this popular." She took the read notes from the table and started to flip through them. Then she read the names of some of the senders.

"Dean, Seamus, Michael Burke he is in Hufflepuff, and there is even one from Neville!" She said with a smile.

"What would they want from you?" Ron asked raising an eyebrow.

"They all asked her out to the ball." Hermione grunted looking at him.

"Why would they want to do that?" Ron asked amazed.

"Most likely because they like her!" Hermione said scowling at him now.

"But she won't go with them! She will go with Harry. I already wrote him asking him to." Ron said spooning more pudding on his plate.

"You did what!" Both the girls said looking at him.

"I asked him to take Ginny to the ball, Pig should be back soon with a note saying he will." Ron said plainly.

At that note Pig came furiously flying in and twirled round his head a few times before Ron managed to grab him.

"See!" He said letting go off the feathered fluff and waving the note around.

Then he unfolded it and started reading it out loud.

"_Ron,_

_I got your note, you are my best friend and I would do almost anything you ask, but I can't take Ginny to the ball. _

_I had already asked Phoebe to the ball and her reply with yes came at the same time as your note._

_So sorry I can't help you, but Ginny will find someone to take her. (or she has already)_

_See you on the Hogwarts express!_

_Harry_."

"What does he mean he isn't taking her!" Ron said crumpling up the note.

"Like he said he is taking Phoebe." Ginny said with a smile knowing how happy her friend would be right now.

"But how will you go to the ball!" Ron said looking amazed.

"I will probably go with……" Ginny looked at the notes still on the table, she let her hand glide over them for a second before picking on up. "I'm going with Dean."

"No your NOT!" Ron said getting up.

"I am too, and who do you think you are ordering me around!" Ginny yelled back as she got up.

"Now, now! Ginny can go to the ball with whom ever she likes." Their mother said playing the role of referee.

"But mum Dean is…he…is…I share a room with him!" Ron finally blurted out as an answer.

"Well then you should know him and be glad your sister is going with one of your friends." His mother responded.

"Ginny who was getting tired of Ron scowling picked up Smaug and walked to her room.

The new year had come and gone, even though their mother had forbid him to go on about the subject, Ron still kept going about Ginny going to the ball with Dean.

When they reached the platform on the 2nd of January, Ginny had resolved to not speaking to him.

"And further more he has that stupid poster of that football team above his bed, how could you like a guy who isn't into Quidditch?" Ron asked as he dragged his cart towards him.

"Ron leave her alone……" Hermione said with a sigh. "If she wants to go with Dean then she shall."

"Hey look there is Harry!" Ron said wanting to change the subject.

The three of them walked over to Harry, Ginny could tell by the expression on his face he was looking for someone.

"Hello Harry." She said with a smile.

"Oh hi, I didn't see you there." He said looking at his three friends with a smile.

"Phoebe always comes at the last minute, she told me so at the end of term." Ginny whispered to him.

"Right……" Harry said looking a bit sad. "So who are you going to the ball with?" He asked now more focused on his friends.

"Me and Ron are going……" Hermione confessed with a slight blush.

"And I will be going with Dean Thomas." Ginny said looking at her brother.

"Well Lucky Dean Thomas." The voice of Sirius sounded behind her.

Ginny turned and smiled at him, she just saw the glimpse of Draco as he climbed on the train, she wondered if he had heard her.

Draco stormed through the cramped hallway of the train, he was so angry!

Ginny was going to the ball with Dean Thomas! She was going with that muggle born idiot!

When he found an empty compartment he sank down in the seat and crossed his arms.

The anger he had felt at her words still boiling in his chest.

'_What did you think? That she was going to ask you? You never even asked her!'_

A small voice said inside him.

"Well I could have……" He said aloud.

"You could have what?" Pansy Parkinson said walking in and ripping him from his thoughts.

She sat down close to him and looked at him with a large smile.

"I got some new dress robes for the ball, I told my mother I wanted some as soon as I got your note. We went to buy them………"

As she started to tell him in detail, where she had bought them and what her robes and accessories looked like Draco started to tune her out.

He didn't even notice all the others filling the compartment.

Ginny was sitting in a compartment with Phoebe, Harry, Ron and Neville. The last looking surly occasionally throwing her glances but not looking her in the eye.

She had written him a note explaining as nice as she could that she would be going to the ball with Dean. But she thought, even though he was pretending not to, he was still hurt by her rejection.

"So who are you going with?" Phoebe suddenly asked her finally tearing her look away from Harry.

"Dean Thomas." Ginny said softly not wanting to add to the sad look that was already on Neville's face.

"Oh that is so nice, we could all go to the hall together!" Phoebe said smiling. "I never knew he liked you."

"Neither did I." Ginny confessed.

"Listen, Harry and I will be right back. We have to……go talk……to someone." Ron said pulling Harry with him as he got up.

"Don't you dare Ron!" Ginny said looking at his face.

"What!" Ron tried to look as innocent as he could.

"Don't you and Harry go and threaten Dean!" Ginny said getting up as well now.

"We weren't ……." Ron started but Ginny had already stopped him from going out off the compartment.

"Just sit down and stay here." She scolded him as she forced him and Harry back in their seats.

Draco sighed as he looked out the window, Pansy had not left him alone since the train had started moving. He wondered how he was going to get through the rest of the evening with her.

Eventually he looked at Crabbe and Goyle. "So who are you taking?"

He tried hard not to laugh out loud as the both of them semi grunted 'no one' at the same time.

"Ohoooo I wonder who that mudblood Granger is taking!" Pansy almost shrieked.

"Ron……I mean Weasel King." Draco said looking at her.

"How do you know?" Pansy asked looking suspicious.

"I overheard them on the platform." Draco replied dryly.

"Well I bet that Weasel Girl would at least managed to scrape up an escort, I mean she is good looking in a poor and dishevelled way." Pansy said with an evil grin.

Draco suppressed the urge to speak up and defend Ginny.

'_Remember who you are and who you are with!'_ He reminded himself.

"I couldn't care less." He lied, trying to sound blank.

"She is going with Dean Thomas, I overheard him boasting about it when I passed his compartment." Crabbe said looking at Pansy.

"Well he is muggle born so he probably doesn't deserve any better." Pansy said at a giggle looking at Draco to see if she had made him smile.

Draco forced a smile onto his face, he was trying to fight the image of Ginny dancing with Dean from his mind.

There was a gong sound that travelled through the train, this was a warning sign that they would arrive in Hogsmeade soon.

"We had better get changed." Phoebe said with a smile as she coached Ginny out of the compartment.

When the train finally came to a staggering halt there was still a bit of commotion going on in the pathways of the train.

People were trying to get to their partners, girls were nervously giggling about their appearance.

Dean had come to their compartment and had smiled at Ginny when he had offered her his arm.

Now she was still holding onto that same arm as she made her way down to the carriages.

The ride up to the castle was pleasant for Ginny, she shared a carriage with Phoebe and Harry. Ron and Hermione had stepped into the one behind them.

Dean made her laugh as he imitated professor Dumbledore doing a dance.

In the carriage in front of Ginny's Draco was trying to get Pansy to let go of his arm.

"We only need to do that as we walk in you know." He said half heartily as he put her hand back in her own lap.

"Yes, but it would look so much nicer if we came out of the carriage like this." Pansy declared interlocking her arm with his again.

With a sigh Draco gave up his attempts and looked out the window.

As Ginny accepted Dean's arm once again to be guided up the steps to the entrance hall she smiled at people she knew.

Walking in they saw that the staff had done a wonderful job in decorating everything for the upcoming ball.

Large life like ice sculptures stood at either side off the entrance to the great hall, there were little fairy's flying round. Each off them emanating a glow that looked nothing like anyone could produce, even by magic.

Ginny felt better about this ball with each moment that passed. Ron was to busy trying not to seem nervous with Hermione by his side. Harry and phoebe seemed to be enjoying themselves and even Neville had stopped to look gloomy as he had been approached by Ravenclaw girl.

From the side of her eye she spotted a familiar blond head, she looked in the direction of Draco. He seemed to be confounded by something, his eyes were looking like they were slightly out of focus. She wanted to at least acknowledge him but before she could he had turned away.

Draco turned his head as soon as his eyes had met hers, his heart was still pounding in his chest. He somehow felt like a small kid again being caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do. But he hadn't been able to stop himself from staring at her. She looked so gorgeous! Her hair shone in the light of the fairy's above and her smile had kept him caught.

He now wished he had taken the chance of asking her, throwing all his caution and carefully built reputation aside.

He looked over his shoulder once more and saw her laughing at something Dean had said.

"Draco we have to go in." Pansy said tugging on his arm.

Reluctant Draco followed her and walked into the hall.

The dinner was arranged well and prepared beautifully, There were no house tables, instead there were round tables which had place cards.

To Draco was torn between sorrow and relief that he was not at the same table as Ginny. She was there and that was in his eyes a good thing, bit so where her Brother and Potter.

When the dinner was over the tables magically disappeared and a band had started to play music.

Draco kept feeling annoyed by the way Pansy demanded to dance, and by the amount of times Ginny had danced with Dean Thomas.

Ginny looked across the hall and saw Draco leave Pansy and walk towards the doors of the hall.  
It annoyed her that since he had seen her in he entrance hall he had scowled at her every time he had looked in her direction.

When she had first walked in there had been a different look in his eyes. But within seconds that had changed, once he had reached the doors he looked once more in her direction and then left.

Even though she was having a good time with Dean, Ginny felt she needed to go and talk to Draco.  
She excused herself to Dean and then made her way out the doors, if she hurried she could catch him.

Ginny raised her head a bit and noticed that Draco was scowling at her again, what was wrong with him?

Every time she had looked at him tonight he looked like he had been angry with her.

She had to turn her attention back to Dean as he said something to her, but as soon as she had responded she wondered again.

Draco sighed as he was growing tired of this evening fast, he looked at Pansy and felt even more annoyance creep up.

He didn't excuse himself to her as he turned round and started to walk towards the doors.

Ginny looked across the hall again and saw Draco leave Pansy and walk towards the doors of the hall.  
It annoyed her that since he had seen her in he entrance hall he had scowled at her every time he had looked in her direction.

When she had first seen him in there had been a different look in his eyes. But within seconds that had changed, once he had reached the doors he looked once more in her direction and then left.

Even though she was having a good time with Dean, Ginny felt she needed to go and talk to Draco.  
She excused herself to Dean and then made her way out the doors, if she hurried she could catch him.

Ginny walked out into the entrance hall and saw Draco's back, she wanted to call out to him but the saw him go up the stairs instead of going down the hall towards the dungeons.

She followed him at a small distance making sure she made no sound as she did.

At the door off the room of requirement she saw him pause with his hand on the handle, then he pushed the door open and disappeared inside.

Ginny followed, when she stood in front off the door she wondered what was going on.

Since before Christmas they had been friends right? Or at least she thought they had been.

They had stopped early exchange of the room as an excuse to meet.

They had talked about so many things that she knew him pretty well now or at least she thought so.

She shook her head and entered the room, in the light off the fire she saw him sitting on the sofa.  
She knew he had heard the door but he did not look up, not until she stood next to the sofa.

"Hi, you were not having fun with Pansy?" She asked sitting down.   
Draco looked at her for a second. "Not really but you seemed to be enjoying yourself enough."  
Ginny raised her eyebrows, something in the tone off his voice had made the hairs in the back off her neck stand up.  
"Yes I was having a good time, but it was kind off undermined by certain people looking at me like I was committing a crime." She sneered back at him.

His eyes shot up and he looked at her but did not say a word.

"What is the big problem with me having fun with my friends?" Ginny continued. "You were having fun with your friends."  
"Oh yes I was having a world off fun." Draco said sarcastically. "And you hanging out with your brother, Potter and Granger wasn't the problem." He turned from her and stared back into the fire.

"Then what is the problem? Obviously something was bugging you downstairs? You can tell me you know, we are friends you can tell me anything." Ginny tried again.

"There was no problem!" Draco got up and took two steps.  
"You are not being honest, there is something bothering you, something about me! And I would appreciate it if you told me." Ginny said walking to him and facing him again.

"Nothing." Draco said through clenched teeth, he wasn't supposed to say it! The things he was thinking or the things he wanted to do were not supposed to be in his head.

Ginny felt frustrated at his un-reluctance to tell her what bothered him.

'You know what? I don't care, if you want to be up her sulking like a small child then do so! I will go down stairs and go back to the ball." She turned on her heels and started to walk towards the door.

"Right go back to Dean!" Draco hissed.

"What?" Ginny asked slowly turning.

"That is where you want to be don't you? In Dean Thomas' arms dancing and laughing with him. Much better then being here with me." Draco said no unable to stop the flow of words that had come streaming our of his mind and towards his mouth.

"Draco I like spending time with you, you are my friend." Ginny said looking at him not knowing what to think.

'Yeah well maybe I don't want to be your friend anymore." Draco said as he advanced on her.

Ginny slowly walked backwards as he came closer, but she was stopped by the door against her back. "What do you mean by that?"

Now face to face with Draco Ginny looked at him, his eyes were no longer that silvery grey set of pools. They were now flashing and there seemed to be golden sparks flying across them.

Draco looked at her, she could not go anywhere, he might as well let his thoughts do all the leading. He had said to much already.

"I mean that I can no longer be your friend." He said calmly.

"Why not? What did I do?" Ginny asked not looking away from him, she felt a deep feeling of sadness crawl into her chest. "I thought we were friends?" She said trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

Draco kept looking at her he noticed the glaze of water creeping over her eyes and he felt a sting of guilt in his gut.

Slowly he raised his hand, letting it creep up to her shoulder and caress the strand of hair that was lying there.

He could feel her breath pass his cheek and it somehow made his stomach go tighter then it had already been.

"I can't be your friend anymore……" Draco stared as he looked at her, his fingers now wound with the stand of hair. "Because I want to be more then that." It had come out like a whisper, a soft movement of air from between his lips.

Before he allowed time to pass, before Ginny could full well process his last words he leant forward and kissed her.

Surprised as she was by his action Ginny could feel warmth creep up from her toes, it filed her all over like the cold potion her mother would whip up for her in winter.

Slowly she allowed herself and Draco to get deeper emerged in the kiss.


End file.
